Villa Park Overcomes Obstacles, Compton to Advance in OT

Until last year, Villa Park had not made the Southern Section playoffs since 1976. And they had never reached the championship game.

But they have now, upsetting second-seeded Compton, 45-44, in overtime in Division II-AA Tuesday at Compton Dominguez.

Matt Poutsma’s two free throws with 29 seconds left proved to be the difference. The loss ends the Tartar Lions’ season at 24-6.

The fourth-seeded Spartans (24-4) had a host of obstacles to survive before advancing to Saturday’s title game against Woodbridge.

Villa Park had to endure a quiet offensive night from 7-foot center Eric Chenowith, who--despite 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots--made only one of six field goal attempts (none in the second half). He had only six points before fouling out with 2:39 left in the fourth quarter.

They had to contend with Compton missing four shots from five feet in the final minute of the fourth quarter. And there was the final 29 seconds, which included two turnovers for each side and a wild scramble for the ball in the final three seconds.

A stunned Compton Coach Rod Palmer, after composing himself, did not look for any excuses.

“I certainly did not envision losing the game,” Palmer said. “We knew this would be a hard game because we were playing a good team. The difference was, they executed when they had to and we didn’t.”

Compton finished with 12 turnovers, and most of them were dropped passes under minimal pressure. The Tartar Lions also never got into an offensive groove; guards Jeffrey Trepagnier (nine points) and Deandre Moore (10 points), whom Compton depends on for the bulk of the scoring, were a combined eight for 33 from the field.

Meanwhile, Spartan Coach Kevin Reynolds heartily praised his team’s effort, especially when Chenowith had to leave the game for good.

“I rolled the dice by getting Eric back in so quickly (6:42 to play) after his fourth foul,” Reynolds said. “But I had so much faith in this team as a group.”

Poutsma, who had six points and four key rebounds, won the game. But Isaiah Cavaco was clearly the difference for Villa Park. He led all scorers with 18 points, making six of eight shots and four of five free throws in keeping his teammates calm in the face of Compton’s often air-tight defense.

“We expected they would be able to limit what Eric did offensively,” Cavaco said. “So we knew a couple of other guys would have to step up.”

In another Division II-AA game:

Woodbridge 76, San Bernardino Pacific 69--Woodbridge went on an 18-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to turn a nine-point deficit into a nine-point lead. Chris Burgess and Brandon Beeson combined for 14 points during the stretch.

Burgess finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds and Beeson had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors (26-3).

Bobby Burries scored 44 points, including 27 on three-pointers, for Pacific (12-16). Burries scored 24 of his team’s 25 points during the third quarter when Pacific took a five-point lead.