Same “old” defensive effort helps Etiwanda win opener

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LA VERNE, Ca. – Basketball, especially on the high school level, is an ever-evolving sport – on and off the court.

But there is at least one dependable constant in prep hoops in Southern California:

Coach David Kleckner’s Etiwanda High teams are always going to guard opponents – man to man – and make it very difficult to do what they want to on offense.

And, their 2021 “spring season” debut Tuesday night at Damien High, the Eagles made sure that they followed that same blueprint.

In a game that also served as a Baseline League opener and battle between to strong candidates for the CIF Southern Section’s Open playoff division, Etiwanda edged the Spartans, 64-60.

The hosts (who fell to 15-1) got 3-point “looks” (two by Malik Thomas and the other by Spivey Word) on one possession in the final 30 seconds but couldn’t knock in any of the well-defended attempts that would have tied the score.

After clearing the defensive rebound with 5.7 seconds to go on the last of those attempts, senior center Darvelle Wyatt – who scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter – hit two free throws to put his team up an unsurmountable five points.

Damien guard Chris Nickelberry’s free throw locked in the final score.

Wyatt (who grabbed six rebounds) was one of the three returning seniors from last season’s 30-4 squad in the starting lineup.

“I thought all of the seniors did a good job,” Kleckner said, who didn’t even distribute his varsity’s uniforms until a few hours before the game’s 6:30 p.m. tipoff.

“Our sophomores were a little nervous to start but they calmed down and played better, too.”

Senior forward Marcus Green scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter as he and Wyatt combined to hit 10 of 11 free throws.

The third senior, University of Tennessee-bound Jahmai Mashack (pictured), scored only eight points (he attempted just seven shots from the floor and missed all four of his free throws).

But he more than held up his end of the bargain with 10 rebounds, seven blocked shots, four assists and four steals.

The sophomores, guard Jimmy Baker and forward Curtis Williams, were key elements of a junior varsity that was 18-0 last season.

Baker had a couple of first-quarter turnovers and was in foul trouble – he picked up his fourth late in the third quarter – most of the way.

But he showed off his considerable promise with seven points, four steals and our assists.

The 6-foot-6 Williams missed all six of his shots in the first half but scored nine points – including a 3 – on just five shots after intermission.

Kleckner, whose past three teams’ seasons have ended with losses in State Southern Regional finals, knows his approach with this squad has to be more accelerated than he would like because of the pandemic-altered timeline to the “2020-21” campaign.

“Normally, we’d just be getting to where we need to be at, defensively, when league starts,” he said.

“We used the non-league schedule (in November and December) to put in everything and evolve, especially with so many newcomers. So, we’ve still got a long way to go to where we need to be.”

That said, he still had plenty of praise for his squad, especially in the way it played defense against one of the region’s best offenses.

The USC-bound Thomas scored a game-high 26 points (including four 3s; he also had nine rebounds) but all of his attempts were well-defended and a lot of his buckets were of the high-degree-of-difficulty variety.

Two of the better underclassmen, 6-4 junior R.J. Smith and 6-8 sophomore Jimmy Oladokon Jr., were limited to 12 and three points, respectively, with all of Smith’s coming in the first half.

“Coach (Mike) Leduc and Damien run such great offense,” Kleckner said.

“If you’re going to play man-to-man defense against them, you’d better be prepared and have a pretty good idea of what you’re doing.”

And Tuesday night – as was the case in the first 24 seasons Kleckner was running the Etiwanda program – the Eagles showed they were and did.