ETIWANDA – The visiting St. Anthony High Saints got an up-close look-see at the man-up, half-court defense of the Etiwanda Eagles Thursday night in a CIF Southern Section Open Division boys’ basketball playoff opener.
And, as they’d no doubt attest, it was everything it’s cracked up to be.
Coach Dave Kleckner’s Eagles, leading by four points with a little bit more than five minutes to go in the third quarter, forced four turnovers and blocked a couple of Saints’ shot during a 14-2 spurt over the next four minutes.
The advantage grew to 22 points three and a half minutes into the fourth quarter before the Eagles “settled” for a 71-55 victory in front of an estimated gathering of 1,800 or so.
A 16th win in a row pushed the division’s No. 4 seed’s record to 27-2 while dropping the six-seeded Saints to 26-3.
The other three Open Division “opening” games (No. 8 St. John Bosco at top-seeded Sierra Canyon; No. 7 Mater Dei at No. 2 Corona Centennial and No. 6 Harvard-Westlake at No. 3 Rancho Christian) are set for Friday night at 7.
The Etiwanda-St. Anthony game was moved to Thursday due to a previously scheduled Southern Section wrestling competition set for the Eagles’ gym on Friday.
Six-foot-five Jaylen Clark (pictured), who recently committed to UCLA and was playing for Centennial in the Open playoffs at this time a year ago, scored seven of his team-high 16 points in that third-quarter spurt – via a couple of wicked dunks sandwiched around a step-back 3 – with four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Senior forward Tyree Campbell came off the bench early in the first quarter to score 10 of his eventual 14 points with six rebounds and three blocked shots.
Their classmates, guards Camren Pierce and Brantly Stevenson, scored 12 and 14 points, respectively, while another senior, Darryl Jackson, had eight points and four assists.
The Saints became just the sixth team to scored at least 50 points against the Eagles this season and only one of those scored 60 (Damien, during an 82-60 Baseline League decision won by Etiwanda on Jan. 17).
Six-five Jadon Jones (who recently committed to signing a National Letter of Intent with Long Beach State in April), led St. Anthony with 18 points. But “clean” looks were a rarity, especially after he hit three jump shots in the first quarter.
Elijah Price (6-8), a sophomore who has made considerable improvement over the past month, may not have caught a pass into the low post all night but did grab 12 rebounds while hitting two of three shots to go with a free throw for the Saints.
Coach Allen Caveness’ team will take another long ride – this time to Cal State Northridge in the San Fernando Valley – Tuesday when the Saints face Sierra Canyon while the Eagles remain on campus to take on St. John Bosco in their second “Pool A” games.
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