El Dorado Rallies to Defeat Marina in Game of Runs

The situation seemed dire for El Dorado, which trailed by two with a minute 22 seconds left to play in a Southern Section Division I-A third round game at Marina.

The vocal Viking crowd made the prospect of a road victory even dimmer.

But Evan Bull powered to the basket to tie the score and Mike Wulff hit a game-winning three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining and El Dorado escaped with a 59-54 victory.

The Golden Hawks (25-3) will play Moreno Valley Rancho Verde in a quarterfinal game Friday on a neutral court, which El Dorado will choose.

“We wanted to come in here and play them,” Wulff said. “We wanted to see what we could do in a tough situation.”

Marina (24-4) played without starting point guard Ryan Redman, who broke his hand Monday in practice. They were also without sixth man Eric Duke, who hurt his knee in the regular-season finale.

But they were ultimately done in by poor shooting. The Vikings shot 32% (19-60) for the game, only four for 20 on three-point attempts. In the fourth quarter, they were four for 17, 0 for eight on three-point attempts.

“We were cold the whole game,” Marina Coach Roger Holmes said. “And it wasn’t like we were taking bad shots. We had set, balanced wide-open looks and they just didn’t go in.”

Still the Vikings stayed close. After holding Marina scoreless for the first 4:50 of the fourth quarter, El Dorado went up, 50-43, its largest lead of the game.

But Marina forced three consecutive turnovers and by the time Richard Dawson capped an 11-2 run with a driving layup along the baseline, Marina was in front, 54-52, with 1:22 to play.

That’s when Bull, who finished with 18 points, fumbled a pass in the key before he recovered and shoved through for a layup.

Shane Leis missed a three-pointer for Marina, then Wulff made the game-winner. He finished with 14 points.

Golden Hawk Coach Tim Tivenan echoed Wulff’s sentiments about winning on the road, especially with a team that starts three juniors and a sophomore.

“We thought this would be a good challenge to come in here with such a young team,” Tivenan said. “There were a lot of things against us, but we held it together.”

Despite drawing constant double teams, Dustin Kaatz had 23 points for Marina in a game that featured nine lead changes and 10 ties.

“It wasn’t like we were trading baskets,” Holmes said. “We were going on runs. It was six or eight here then six or eight there. They just had the last one.”