LA VERNE, CA – The Damien High defense held the visiting Etiwanda Eagles to 30 points through, basically, three quarters of the Baseline League showdown Friday night.
But a Spartans’ turnover set the table for a layup by Alton Hamilton just a tic before the buzzer ending the quarter and cutting the hosts’ lead to seven points in front of a near-SRO crowd.
And it proved the path the Eagles (No. 10 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25) needed to jump-start their offense, as six turnovers by the Spartans propelled the visitors to a 25-point fourth quarter and 57-53 victory.
The win improved Coach Dave Kleckner’s team to 17-4 and 5-0 in league while Mike LeDuc’s Spartans – who took a 12-game winning streak into the game – fell to 20-3 and 4-1.
The second round of league play begins Monday night, with Damien playing host to Upland and Etiwanda at Chino Hills.
The Spartans and Eagles are set to close the regular season, at Etiwanda, on Feb. 2.
With two sophomores and two freshmen – 10th grader Lucas Arrieta starts at “point guard” and is back up by 9th grader Elijah Smith – part of his seven-player rotation, LeDuc was concerned about how well his team’s handling and passing would respond against Etiwanda’s dialed in defensive pressure.
And, for the better part of the game, those elements held up well enough to keep his team’s advantage always closing in on 10 points.
Things started to get a bit wobbly – a turnover setting up a couple of free throws by Christian Harris to push the Eagles to within 46-41 with 4:03 remaining.
But 6-foot-11 and much-improved sophomore Nate Garcia followed in his own miss to push the advantage back to seven points, the sequence giving him 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Jimmy Baker missed a jumper, and the Spartans cleared the defensive rebound but a turnover in frontcourt led to a transition layup – while being fouled – by Etiwanda senior forward Curtis Williams, who converted the free throw to get his team to within four minutes with 2:30 remaining.
A Damien ball-handler stepped out of bounds and, at the other end, left-handed junior guard Amare Campbell (who finished with a game-high 19 points) flipped in a six-foot floater as his team crept to within two points.
Arrieta was fouled with 1:52 remaining and made the free-throw attempt but missed the second, with Baker coming up with the ball and jetting up the floor and into the lane to convert an off-balance layup while being fouled.
His free throw tied the score, for the first time, since early in the second quarter.
Harris then ripped a Damien ball handler and was fouled before he could get to the rim
His free throws gave the Eagles their first advantage since they led 13-12.
The Spartans responded with nice half-court execution to tie the score with 1:13 to go, Elijah Brown getting open off a sharp cut and Garcia (who had three assists) getting the pass to him for a layup.
By now, Damien had gone to a zone yet was able to do a good job of extending enough to pressure potential jump shooters.
But Baker – like Williams, a three-year starter for the Eagles – took one dribble toward the front of the zone and zipped a pass to the left wing, where junior Carrington Pierce, lined up a couple of fee behind the arc, caught the ball and launched.
Swish, with 45 seconds to go, for three-point lead.
Etiwanda got a timeout immediately after Pierce’s shot.
When play resumed, the Eagles did a good job of chasing potential 3-point shooters but Brown, near the free-throw line while looking for shooters, turned and hit a 10-footer.
After the inbound pass, Baker was fouled – by Brown – with 21.5 seconds to go.
He hit the front end to get the lead back to two points but missed the second.
In a scramble for the rebound, the fall was ruled to have touched a Damien player while he was out of bounds (the Spartans’ 21st turnover), leaving the possession with the Eagles.
After being fouled by Smith, Williams (pictured; he finished with 15 points despite missing hunks of the third and fourth quarters with foul issues) swished both free throws with 14 seconds to go for what proved to be the final score.
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