SANTA ANA, Calif. — If Saturday’s matchup between No. 4 Etiwanda and No. 8 Loyola was any preview of what’s in store for the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA playoffs coming up in a couple of weeks, the Cubs have a lot of work to do between now and then.
Etiwanda used a dominant second half to steamroll Loyola, 51-24, at the Nike Extravaganza.
The Eagles (21-1) led by 10, 26-16 at halftime but in the third quarter, blew the doors open.
They outscored Loyola (18-6) 15-3 in the quarter to take a 41-19 lead into the fourth quarter.
This was coming off a second quarter in which the Cubs were held to just five points. Loyola matched that total in the fourth quarter.
“Sometimes you’re the hammer, sometimes you’re the nail,” Loyola head coach Jamal Adams said. “We were the nail tonight. We really struggled against their pressure.”
Etiwanda and Long Beach Poly have had some incredible defensive matchups over the past few years and watching the Jackrabbits dismantle St. John Bosco in the game directly before theirs must have given the Eagles motivation to one-up their playoff rivals.
“It fired us up a little bit,” Etiwanda point guard Jordan McLaughlin said of watching Long Beach Poly on Saturday. “We take pride in our defense. We’re a defensive school. That’s what we do.”
The Etiwanda point guard says head coach Dave Kleckner makes it clear you have to be able to guard the ball to play and it’s a point that hits home for one of the Southern California’s top defensive teams.
The defensive performance by his team on Saturday night was one even Kleckner could be pleased with. Even though the Cubs were without starting point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright (ankle/foot) for a 12th straight game and backup point guard Khalil Bedart-Ghani (ankle) for the third straight game, holding any team to three points in a quarter is quite a feat.
“Against a team as good as Loyola, yes,” Kleckner said. “To do that against a team like a Loyola says a lot.”
Kleckner attributes their dominant performance on Saturday night to having fresher legs. The Eagles were able to rest their players during a 67-22 win over Alta Loma on Friday night, while Loyola was involved in a tough 53-46 Mission League win over Crespi.
If that is the case, it explains a lot. The Cubs shot just 27 percent for the game and just 20 percent in the second half.
The Eagles shot 39.6 percent for the game, but were able to get easy shots off of their defense. They scored 19 points off of 18 Loyola turnovers. McLaughlin scored a game-high 11 points and he was the only player in the game to reach double figures.
In all, nine different players scored a point for the Eagles.
Adams knows there’s a chance these teams can meet again in the near future but isn’t looking too far ahead. The Cubs are in first place in the Mission League and need a big week to seal a league championship.
“I don’t even want to talk about getting back to Etiwanda,” Adams said. “We got to try and win two in our league.
“I just want to get through those two (games) and get Park healthy and then we get about a week of practice and then it’s 0-0.”
