GAME OF THE WEEK : Lancers Advance-- Only One Round : Basketball: Bell Gardens wins its first playoff game in four years. But a second-round defeat leaves little time to savor the victory.

History didn’t repeat itself Tuesday night. And Bell Gardens Coach Charlie LaCommare couldn’t have been happier.

The Lancers had lost in the Southern Section first-round basketball playoffs each of the past three years to Lakewood. But LaCommare’s squad finally put an end to the school’s postseason frustration, by pounding Eisenhower of Rialto, 72-50, in a Division I-AA game at Bell Gardens.

“When you’re a freshman player and see the varsity lose in the first round and the same thing happens in your sophomore and junior years, it’s kind of obvious what has happened,” LaCommare said. “I’m sure the losses were on their minds, but I didn’t say a word about it to them.”

The Lancers’ presence in the playoffs, however, was cut short Friday night by second-seeded Los Alamitos.

In the early going Tuesday night against the Citrus Belt League’s third-place entrant, Bell Gardens’ fortunes did not appear much brighter than postseasons past.

The Almont League champion Lancers did not score until the 4-minute, 10-second mark of the first quarter and trailed, 21-12, with 5:26 remaining in the second.

That’s when Bell Gardens went to a full-court press.

The Lancers outscored Eisenhower, 13-2, to take its first lead with 47 seconds left in the first half with a layup by Dan Escobar.

“We applied the pressure and they couldn’t handle it,” said Escobar, who had eight points during the spurt.

Bell Gardens opened the second half with 12 points in the first 1:51 to build a 41-29 advantage. Eisenhower never got closer than nine points thereafter.

The Lancers held the Eagles without a field goal for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, stretching their lead to 66-44 with 2:29 to play.

“At the start, we were a little intimidated of (Eisenhower) because we saw how high they were jumping,” Escobar said. “We told ourselves that we couldn’t be scared of anybody and I think we surprised ourselves.

“This is CIF and these are the playoffs. You’re not supposed to win by this much. You’re supposed to get by by only a few points.”

Escobar, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, finished with 21 points and had eight rebounds. George Gutierrez and Robert Zaragoza scored 13 and 12 points respectively, and Pete Loza added 11 points and eight assists for Bell Gardens.

Escobar scored 15 points Friday night against Los Alamitos, but the Lancers fell to the second-seeded Griffins, 74-53, in the second round on the road. Los Alamitos was led by Tim Lin’s 25 points.

EISENHOWER--Roux 4, Henderson 22, Soward 5, Johnson 4, Jimmerson 12, Farlow 3.

BELL GARDENS--Loza 11, Escobar 21, Gutierrez 11, Santana 9, Zaragoza 8, Coria 12.

Records: Eisenhower 16-11; Bell Gardens 21-6.

*

BELL GARDENS--Loza 11, Oropeza 2, Ramos 2, Escobar 15, Gutierrez 14, Santana 7, Coria 2.

LOS ALAMITOS--Ton 8, Doyle 14, Lin 25, Stanec 16, Vandervoet 6, Wiswell 1, Major 4.

Records: Bell Gardens 21-7, Los Alamitos 22-4.