Riverside Poly Shuts Down El Toro

Riverside Poly Coach Yancy Dodson, not afraid to admit he made a mistake, scrapped his game plan early on Friday night. As a result, the Bears clawed past El Toro, 62-50, in a Southern Section Division I-A quarterfinal basketball playoff game at Trabuco Hills High.

Dodson spent the better part of three days before the game watching videotape of the Chargers. After talking to some coaching buddies, he figured the only way to slow down El Toro was to use an extended 2-3 zone defense.

But when El Toro jumped to a 20-13 lead in the second quarter, Dodson had had enough. The zone, which often sagged into a 1-2-2 or box and one, just wasn’t cutting it.

“They were on fire,” Dodson said. “We had to go back to man-to-man defense.”

The tactic worked. The Bears took a 32-30 lead at halftime and ran away from El Toro in the last quarter, making 14 of 16 free throws in the final 2 minutes 24 seconds to blow open what had been a close game.

Although El Toro never led in the second half, the Chargers kept it close. They trailed, 43-40, with 6:15 left after a Elias Vargas layup.

But Poly (18-8), which made six of 11 three-point attempts in the first half, went inside on the Chargers in the final 16 minutes with some nice passing. A basket by Ruben Quezada off an assist from C.J. Reed and Quezada’s ensuing free throw made the score 46-40 with about 3 1/2 minutes left.

El Toro’s leading scorer, Travis Senik, who was three for 17, made only his second basket of the game, but then Reed fed Brett Masi for a layin. Senik fouled Masi on the play and the free throw made it 49-42.

El Toro (14-13) couldn’t recover.

Riverside Poly, which had 31 three-point attempts in an earlier playoff game, tried only one--a basket by Mark Vanta--in the second half.

And the Chargers, who made six of eight three-point attempts in the first two quarters, couldn’t connect on all nine attempts in the second half. El Toro made eight of 24 field-goal attempts in the final two quarters.

In other Division I-A games:

Mater Dei 50, Rowland Heights Rowland 48--Mater Dei’s David Castleton hit a three-pointer with 15 seconds left to tie the score, 48-48. Kevin Augustine then stole the ball and scored the game-winning layup with 10 seconds left.

Mater Dei overcame a dismal shooting performance, hitting only 28% from the field, compared to Rowland’s 43%.

Augustine, the only player in double figures for the Monarchs (30-1), scored a game-high 22 points and Brad Williams had 10 rebounds. Terence Moore led Rowland (17-9) with 17 points, eight blocks and 16 rebounds.

Glendora 77, Capistrano Valley 61--Josh Giles scored a game-high 36 points and Casey Jacobsen added 22 for Glendora (24-5) at Cal Poly Pomona.