Carlsbad Dismantles Sluggish El Camino

OCEANSIDE —  Before the season, Carlsbad Coach John Nelson told his players and every reporter he saw that his team would win the Avocado League championship.

Maybe Nelson knew something.

His team came out and dismantled an unprepared and listless El Camino team in the first half, then held on for a 79-73 victory Friday night over the seven-time defending league champions and No. 1-ranked team in the county.

But Nelson wasn’t even given the pleasure of saying “I told you so.” He was home in bed with the flu.

In the first half, it was hard to tell who had the symptoms. The Wildcats (8-5, 1-1) shot was eight for 33 from the field and one of nine from the line as they fell behind, 36-20. During one stretch they were outscored, 18-0.

El Camino Coach Ray Johnson tried about everything. He played 11 people and benched starters Russell White and Sky Harrison for much of the half.

“When guys don’t answer the bell, you have to go with someone else,” Johnson said. “They really weren’t ready to play.”

Carlsbad’s lead grew to 47-26 midway through the third quarter before El Camino mounted a comeback.

The Wildcats actually cut the lead to 75-73 with 34 seconds left on a Bryant Westbrook three-pointer, but Andy Reed and Chad Nelson hit two free throws each to ice it.

Ninth-ranked Carlsbad improved to 8-6 and 2-0.

Johnson kept the locker room closed for 15 minutes after the game and called a 7 a.m. practice this morning.

“If they don’t like it, they can quit and go home,” Johnson said.

The Wildcats shot only 37% from the field for the game and 15 of 29 from the line, including six misses on front ends of one-and-ones.

“It was embarrassing,” Johnson said. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen any of my teams play. (Carlsbad) is a good team, but not an overpowering team. Everything we did, we did to ourselves.”

Almost everything. Carlsbad’s Chad Nelson, Kewan Shariff and Toby Tollack had a little something to do with El Camino’s poor play, too. Nelson and Shariff continually burned El Camino’s guards in the first half on layups off back-door cuts and Tollack gobbled up what shots they did miss.

Nelson scored 26 points and hit 14 of 15 free throws. Shariff had 19 points and Tollack had four points and 10 rebounds.

Westbrook led El Camino with 21 points, and Dade added 16.

“I can’t read this group yet,” Johnson said. “We don’t really have a leader. Somebody has to step up.”