Bruins Buried by Eagles in First Round, 70-40

ETIWANDA - A playoff upset just wasn’t in the cards for Long Beach Wilson on Wednesday night.

Up against one of the Southern Section’s perennial powers, the Bruins were overwhelmed by an athletic and defensive-minded Etiwanda team in a 70-40 Division I-AA first round playoff loss.

The fourth-seeded Eagles, a Division I-AA finalist from last season and the reigning Baseline League champions, held the Bruins to single digits in two quarters, forced 16 turnovers and held a double-digit lead for nearly the entire game.

“That’s an excellent basketball team,” third-year Wilson head coach Matt Michelson said. “They are good at all phases of the game. We weren’t able to do what we wanted on offense and that’s all credit to (Etiwanda’s) defense.”

Senior forward Zack Reince was an active force the entire night for the Bruins, finishing with a team-high 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. But that wasn’t  nearly enough against the Eagles, who got 19 points from senior forward Tyler Lacour and 18 from senior guard Byron Wesley, a USC commit.

“They were definitely the more athletic team,” Reince said. “I thought we had a good game plan coming in. But we just weren’t able to execute like we wanted to.”

The Eagles (26-2) wasted little time against the Bruins, racing ahead to an 11-0 lead in the opening four minutes of the game. It was just one of several stretches that saw the Bruins unable to score a field goal, as they were bottled up completely by Etiwanda’s pesky defenders.

“We kind of knew they were a drive and kick team,” Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner said. “We just wanted to focus on creating ball pressure and guarding the perimeter. I thought we did a nice job.”

Trailing 18-8 after the first quarter, the Bruins made things interesting in the second. Senior guard Alex Fitzhugh hit consecutive 3-pointers, closing the deficit to 22-16 and forcing an Etiwanda timeout with 4:27 left in the second quarter.

Unfortunately, a hot shooting Fitzhugh would miss the rest of the quarter after accidentally butting heads with Etiwanda’s Troy Flawoo. He would miss the rest of the quarter and finish with nine points – all in the first half.

Coincidence or not, the Bruins were held scoreless the rest of the quarter and trailed 32-16 at halftime.

The Bruins would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

“I think we just lost some of our competitive fire,” Reince said.

Justin Snagg added eight points for Wilson, which finished the season 14-13 overall.

Despite the pain of a season-ending loss, the Bruins could be satisfied knowing they turned things around after a rough 2009-10 season that saw them finish 11-14 overall, including a lowly 2-10 record in the Moore League. 

“We had some big wins this season,” Michelson said. “The guys were all great teammates to each other and played as a team. They had a very mature approach to the game.”

Added Reince: “I thought we all played great together. We always kept our composure and we always worked hard.”

Jordan Daniels added 11 points for the Eagles, who will host Chino Hills in a second-round game on Friday. 

ETIWANDA (70) Tyler Lacour 19, Byron Wesley 18, Jordan Daniels 11, Troy Flawoo 7, Eric Jennings 5, Evan Jenkins 4, Gary O’Leary 4, Jordan McLaughlin 2.

WILSON (40) Zack Reince 12, Alex Fitzhugh 9, Justin Snagg 8, Jarone Nelson 6, Brandon Williams 5.

Halftime: Etiwanda 32-16. 3-pointers: E – Daniels 3, Wesley 2, Flawoo 1, O’Leary 1, Jennings 1; W – Fitzhugh 3, Snagg 2. Fouled out:  None. Technicals: None.