Etiwanda and Mission Viejo bag title hardware

• Tweet

• Tweet

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – I’m writing this from Casa de Julia y Paco Saturday night but got reports from those were in attendance.

Over at AB Miller High in Fontana, Etiwanda came from five points down at intermission to overtake fellow Baseline League member Rancho Cucamonga, 67-59, in the championship game of the Inland Empire Tournament.

Six-foot-four senior Sheldon Blackwell, who might be the best man-to-man defender in the Southland, was selected the event’s Most Valuable Player after scoring 16 points while teammates Kenny Barnes and Dominic Alexander – both juniors, FYI – added 20 and 17, respectively.

What makes the tournament title remarkable for the Eagles of Coach Dave Kleckner is that they played their final three games without terrific junior point guard Jordan McLaughlin (sidelined because of a right ankle sprain suffered Wednesday night vs. Corona Santiago).

Senior wing Malcolm Drumwright (one of the better deep, deep jump shooters in the Southland and junior point guard Victor Joseph were all-tourney selections from Rancho Cucamonga.

Blackwell and Drumwright, along with 6-4 guard Evan Zeller of Mission Viejo, are among the best of the seniors in Southern California who didn’t sign national letters of intent in November.

Zeller apparently hasn’t received any D-I offers yet but that status seems likely to change before too long, based up the way he has played during the Diablos’ 11-0 start.

He scored 35 points Saturday night during his team’s 85-72 Irvine World News Tournament championship victory against Rancho Santa Margarita’s Tesoro at Concordia University in, you guessed, it, Irvine.