Villa Park Keeps Cool, Rallies to Dominate Inglewood, 66-46

A good team doesn’t lose its cool when things aren’t going its way.

Villa Park has been down that road before and has struggled to get the job done in key games when it has fallen behind.

A year ago, the Spartans panicked when they fell behind Trabuco Hills and found themselves bounced from the playoffs in the opening round.

And in Friday night’s Division II-AA quarterfinal game against Inglewood at Canyon High, the same thing could have happened when Inglewood took a seven-point third-quarter lead.

But these Spartans kept their cool and rallied to turn a close game into a 66-46 rout.

Villa Park will play Compton in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Isaiah Cavaco scored 22 points to lead Villa Park (23-4). He got help from Matt Poutsma, who had 16 points, including an acrobatic 32-foot hook shot to close the third quarter and give the Spartans a 38-35 lead they never relinquished. The shot capped a furious 14-4 comeback by Villa Park that erased a 31-24 Inglewood lead.

Villa Park Coach Kevin Reynolds, who sat 7-1 center Eric Chenowith most of the second quarter because of foul trouble, went with a three-guard lineup in the third quarter.

“We felt with three guards it would help us handle their trap better,” Reynolds said. “It opened up some three-point shots for us, too.”

Chenowith became more effective around the basket in the three-guard set. Nine of his game-high 11 rebounds came in the second half. He finished with 13 points after scoring only four in the first half.

The three-guard offense enabled Villa Park to spread Inglewood’s defense. That opened up the key for several drives by Cavaco and a couple of big jumpers from Poutsma and Alex Will, the third guard.

Back-to-back layins by Cavaco, the second with five minutes to go, gave Villa Park a 50-40 lead.

The Sentinels, who controlled the pace throughout the first half on their way to a 26-21 lead, rushed their offensive attack as Villa Park pulled away. Then they fouled repeatedly to try and get the ball back. The result: Villa Park made 18 of 28 free throws.

“When we came back, their intensity died,” Cavaco said. “They got frantic. Their game is run and gun and we did not want to get into a running game with them.”

Inglewood Coach Patrick Roy was upset that his team went to the line only eight times and he was assessed a double technical foul with 57 seconds to play. He was ejected and had to be escorted from the gym by Inglewood police. His team was trailing at the time, 56-46.

David Egans finished with 16 points and Nick Burwell had 10 rebounds for Inglewood.