EMPIRE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : No. 9 Katella Puts It All Together While Routing El Dorado
Ninth-ranked Katella stated its case with firm conviction in an 83-58 victory over El Dorado in the Empire League opener for both Friday night at El Dorado.
“We opened league well,” Katella Coach Tom Danley said. “We’ve been playing fairly well, but not as complete a game as we’d like at both ends of the court.
“This was our best game by far.”
The easy victory served to enhance Katella’s status as a league championship contender. League favorites Esperanza and Los Alamitos take note; Friday’s victory showed the Knights’ 11-3 nonleague record was no fluke.
Katella showed off a crisp game comprised of a suffocating defense, hot shooting from the outside and a strong inside game. It was much too much for an inconsistent El Dorado team to overcome.
“We didn’t execute tonight,” El Dorado Coach Wayne Carlson said.
The Golden Hawks spent most of the game throwing the ball away then retreating to play defense. Many times, Katella took advantage with easy transition baskets.
“That happens a lot when you commit a lot of turnovers,” Carlson said.
The Knights (12-3, 1-0 in league play) held El Dorado scoreless for the game’s first 3 minutes 54 seconds and led by as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter.
Benny Garcia scored a game-high 21 points, Nick Roditis had 17 and Brian Carlson had 16 points and nine rebounds for Katella.
Good balance, Danley said.
“We’ve been looking for balance--balanced defense, balanced scoring, balanced rebounding,” he said. “If we’re going to win, we’ve got to get all the kids involved.”
El Dorado (5-11, 0-1) was led by John Simonsen’s 17 points, including 10 of his team’s first 14 points.
By the end of the first quarter, Katella led, 14-8, then broke the game open with a 14-6 run to start the second. And just to make sure El Dorado didn’t crawl back into contention, Katella outscored the Golden Hawks, 29-19, in the third quarter.
“This is not a bad El Dorado club,” Danley said. “Normally we’re nipping and tucking with each other.”
Not Friday. Not this season.
In other league games:
Los Alamitos 74, Loara 69--Tim Lin scored 22 points and had 10 assists and Steve Carbone added 15 for fifth-ranked Los Alamitos, which almost let a 15-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter. Loara (5-10, 0-1) outscored Los Alamitos, 18-8 in the final quarter. Scott Davis scored 19 points and Jeff Gaudio added 16 for Loara. Los Alamitos is 13-3, 1-0.
Esperanza 61, Cypress 59--Mike Thimgan was 19 for 23 from the free-throw line and had 26 points to lead Esperanza (11-5, 1-0) past host Cypress (7-8, 0-1). Bart Boulton led Cypress with 16 points.