El Camino’s Late Rally Against Santa Moncia Falls Short

El Camino College’s performance in the first round of the Southern California Regional basketball playoffs Saturday night was a familiar one. As has been the case most of the season, the Warriors played tenacious defense, but their offense didn’t come through in the end and the result was an 82-73 loss to Santa Monica City College at Santa Monica.

The last time El Camino was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs was 1987. The Warriors made it to the state final four in 1988, 1989 and 1990, when they lost to eventual state champion Rancho Santiago at UC Irvine.

This season, 17th-seeded El Camino finished 18-14 in Ron McClurkin’s last game as coach. McClurkin served as a three-year interim coach while Paul Landreaux coached in Division I. Landreaux, who resigned from St. Mary’s earlier this season, says he will teach and coach basketball at El Camino next season, taking advantage of the three-year leave of absence granted to him by the school’s board of directors.

“In a way it was a real disappointing season,” McClurkin said. “We had an excellent preseason and we struggled in league. Now this.”

At least the Warriors hung on through the first half. Santa Monica defeated El Camino, 95-73, in December.

“They were much more patient this time,” Santa Monica Coach John McMullen said. “They helped us look real good the first time we played them, but tonight they were able to get on top of us. They played very well.”

Both teams looked sluggish at first. With 10:59 left in the first half, the score was tied, 9-9. With 7:39 remaining, El Camino led, 20-14, after Keishaun Darthard’s three-point basket. Neither team generated much offense until the last five minutes of the half. Santa Monica led, 35-34, at halftime.

The Corsairs opened the second half with an 18-6 run that gave them a 53-40 lead with 14:02 remaining.

El Camino never came closer than eight after that. With 34 seconds left to play, Darius Dubose made a layup to cut the Corsairs’ lead to 79-71. But that was as close as El Camino could get.

It was Dubose’s first appearance in six weeks. The sophomore guard, who has been hampered by knee problems, scored 16 points. Darthard led the Warriors with 18 and sophomore guard Mike Houck had 13, 11 of those in the first half.

“We didn’t rebound well in the second half and they had good shots inside,” McClurkin said.