Nazeri, El Toro Rout Esperanza, 80-56

One glance at the halftime scoreboard was all Ashkan Nazeri needed.

Pain or no pain, he wasn’t going to let his season come to an end Friday night.

So the El Toro junior guard, playing two days after dislocating his shoulder in practice, took over.

In a season-best performance, Nazeri scored 34 points and lifted El Toro to an 80-56 victory over Esperanza in the Southern Section Division I-AA boys’ basketball playoffs at El Toro High.

The Chargers (23-4) will play Arroyo Grande, a 49-46 winner over Murrieta Valley, in the second round. The site will be determined by coin flip today.

Nazeri had 26 of his 34 in the second half, helping El Toro break it open after leading only 36-33 at halftime. He had three three-point baskets, was 11 of 16 from the field and nine of nine from the free-throw line.

“I didn’t want to lose in CIF,” said Nazeri. “I knew we had to come out a lot more intense in the second half. I knew that if we lose, we are out.”

Nazeri’s shoulder popped out of its socket when he went up for a rebound in practice Wednesday, but after seeing a doctor, he still made a scouting trip that night.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I just tweaked it a little.”

Coach Todd Dixon had a different recollection.

“When it happened he grabbed it and was screaming, ‘My shoulder! My shoulder!’ ” Dixon said. “The trainer came and popped it into place and we sent him to the doctor and he still went to the game with us.”

Citing Nazeri’s emotional team leadership, Dixon said he was not surprised by his performance Friday.

“He has that ability to turn it on,” Dixon said. “He’s the ultimate competitor.”

Nazeri had 15 points in the fourth quarter. Seven of those came during a 12-1 Charger run to start the quarter that opened a 64-44 lead with 5:21 left to play.

“We had a good lead, but knew they were capable of coming back,” Nazeri said. “We just kept up our defense.

Esperanza, which had its only lead at 2-0, was within 47-43 after Lloyd Walls’ layup with 1:56 left in the third quarter, but Nazeri made a three-pointer and a pair of free throws for a 52-43 lead after three quarters.

The No. 4-seeded Chargers are trying not to look too far ahead, but Nazeri can’t help but think about a possible semifinal matchup with top-seeded Long Beach Poly. El Toro would need two more victories to get to that point.

“We’re waiting for Poly,” Nazeri said. “We know we’re good enough to play with them.”

Esperanza (15-13) was hampered by 19-of-56 shooting (34%). Freshman Kyle Aase led Esperanza with 14 points and Doug Brown had 12, despite making four of 15 shots. Anthony Vicencia had seven points on two-of-13 shooting.

In other Division I-AA games:

Long Beach Poly 74, Century 46--Ruben Pineda’s basket pulled Century to within 35-30 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter before Poly pulled away. Wesley Stokes scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the top-seeded Jackrabbits.

Los Alamitos 68, Channel Islands 57--Jeff Gergas had 15 points and 15 rebounds for host Los Alamitos (22-5). Manny Berrelleza led Channel Islands with a game-high 35 points.