LA VERNE – The dominating “post presence” that Nate Garcia provided Thursday night was the cornerstone of the Damien High Spartans’ 61-49 victory over visiting Etiwanda – and the outright Baseline League title championship that came with it.
Garcia (pictured), a 7-foot, 255-pound (give or take) junior, scored a layup before missing his second attempt early in the contest played in front of an approximate 2,000.
And then Garcia didn’t miss again unless he was fouled, hitting his final 12 field-goal attempts, as well as two of three free throws in the fourth quarter, to score 28 points with 11 rebounds as the Spartans improved to 24-4, overall, and 9-1 in Baseline action to secure the program’s first outright title in nine years.
The Spartans were the stand-alone Baseline champions in 2015 and shared the title with Etiwanda two years ago. Each of those teams’ seasons culminated with state championship game wins.
Etiwanda (23-5 and 8-2) prevailed, 49-39, in the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 18. The Eagles’ home loss to Rancho Cucamonga on Jan. 24 put an outright title within Damien’s reach with the Thursday night game.
After trailing 7-5, the Spartans outscored the visitors 23-4 for a 17-point advantage before Garcia was whistled for his third personal foul 1:04 before intermission.
Xavier Clinton (the Spartans’ second leading scorer and the only senior who starts or plays significant minutes) was held scoreless in the first half but scored seven points in a third quarter that ended with Damien in front, 41-30.
Senior point guard Amare Campbell was fouled by Garcia – his fourth – on a drive and hit both free throws to get Etiwanda to within 41-34 with 6:56 to go.
But the Eagles never got any closer, in large part because Garcia never got the fifth and disqualifying foul.
After attempting just three free throws (all by Clinton, who finished with 10 points) over the first three quarters, four Spartans’ starters combined to hit 12 of 14 free throws over the final eight minutes to wrap up the title hardware.
Sophomore guard Elijah Smith had six assists to go with five points for the Spartans, while 6-5 classmate Eli Garner added 11 points with six assists and five rebounds while doing a quality defensive job against the Eagles’ best “scorer”, 6-4 senior Christian Harris (seven points).
Campbell – one of the most under-appreciated senior point guards in the state – led the Eagles with 22 points (seven of 14 from the field and perfect on eight free throws).
Damien is “technically” still under Open Division consideration (the Spartans and Eagles remained on the Open “Watch List” to start the week) but are more likely to be a top four seed within the Division 1 bracket.
The Eagles – the runners-up to Mater Dei a year ago in the Division 1 final, played at the Honda Center – will be the Baseline League’s No. 2 representative and will be on the opposite side of the bracket of Damien.
Rancho Cucamonga (18-10 and 7-3) will draw a first-round, Division 1 game as the league’s third automatic qualifier.
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