Villa Park Gets Pushed Out of Picture

Villa Park’s basketball season ended inside a noisy, cramped gymnasium with an 82-74 loss Tuesday to Oceanside El Camino in the first round of the Division II Southern California Regional playoffs.

The Spartans (25-6) trailed El Camino throughout and were down by 16 points in the fourth quarter, but suddenly it started raining three-pointers.

Forward Matt Poutsma hit two three-pointers from the baseline to pull Villa Park as close as 10. El Camino (29-2) appeared to be pulling away as it went on a 6-0 run, but guard Alex Will hit a three-pointer and then guard Isaiah Cavaco hit four, cutting the lead to 76-70 with one minute 10 seconds left.

El Camino, which lost only to Los Angeles Crenshaw and Oyster Bay (N.Y.) St. Dominics helped out Villa Park by missing seven free throws in the last minute. But the Spartans never came closer than six points.

Still, Villa Park and Cavaco made their point.

“I’m just glad [Cavaco] waited until the last three minutes of the game to start shooting,” El Camino Coach Ray Johnson said.

Said Villa Park Coach Kevin Reynolds: “He got rolling, didn’t he. He’s a hell of a player. Yale got a steal.”

If Villa Park had done a better job controlling the tempo and taking care of the ball earlier, Cavaco’s last-minute heroics might have been enough. But El Camino, which used only five players, forced the Spartans into 20 turnovers, many of them resulting in layups on the other end.

El Camino’s tallest player is 6-foot-6 Henry Lalane (20 points, eight rebounds), but the Wildcats have three 6-3 players who can run and jump well. One of them, Dion Booker, had the unenviable task of guarding 7-1 Eric Chenowith.

Booker pushed Chenowith away from the basket early. Chenowith missed his first five shots and only had four points after a quarter. But he began to assert himself in the second and third quarters and finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks before fouling out with eight seconds left.

“I don’t think he was as involved as he should have been in the first quarter,” Reynolds said. “Eric’s not effective 15 feet away from the basket.”

Neither Chenowith nor any other Villa Park player was available for comment after the game.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Reynolds said. “I’ve been proud of them all year. That’s the first road playoff game they lost all year.”