RANCHO CUCAMONGA — On the surface, Saturday’s victory means nothing more than winning the tournament you’re co-hosting and collecting another shiny item for your trophy case.
After all, the Rancho Cucamonga men’s basketball team’s 54-50 victory over Baseline League rivals Etiwanda in the Inland Empire Classic championship game has no impact on the standings of the league.
But you don’t have to look very deep to find out that it means so much more.
“It means a lot,” Rancho Cucamonga coach Bill Burke said. “It’s a mental block. He was overcoming this hump. It’s something they’ve been looking forward to for a while.
While last year’s Cougars team won a CIF-SS title, this year’s team has already overcome a huge hurdle that last year’s team didn’t: ending a 22-game losing streak against title contender Etiwanda.
Derek Moreland’s only field goal of the game gave the Cougars a 9-0 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the game wasn’t assured until Aaron Glass made two free throws at 7.3 seconds left to bring the score to 54-50.
The Cougars managed to win a game playing Etiwanda’s style: a physical style that leaves no room for fastbreaks.
“We were able to sort out the issue with Aaron (Glass) at fault,” Burke said. “We wanted to limit our turnover. We wanted to match their physique. It was a big thing for us. I think we did. I thought if we could control the boards we would be able to win. I think it was equal. In the past, they ruled the boards over us.
Senior Shadale Knight, the tournament MVP, led the way with 21 points, while senior Jerimiyah Smith added 19 points and 14 rebounds and Glass scored his 10 points in the second half after picking up three first-half fouls.
A sign of the game’s low score was evident in the opening minutes when it took the Cougars nearly five minutes to score their first point and over 5½ minutes to score their first field goal.
Etiwanda only led 10-8 after one quarter. The Eagles (5-1) led by no less than six points and that came in the first half, while Rancho Cucamonga’s biggest lead was nine points early in the third quarter.
Senior Curtis Williams led Etiwanda with a team-high 16 of 20 points in the second half and added seven rebounds.
“At the start of the season you always work on the faults of the team,” said Etiwanda assistant coach Daniel Ryan. “Our expectation of the guys today was to play hard. Play the type of Etiwanda defense we worked on this fall. We knew it would be a very emotional game for both teams.
Ryan admitted that Eitwanda has been successful in some ways, but obviously not all.
“We got them to play our game today,” he said. “What was frustrating were the little things we didn’t do well: the turnovers, the technical foul. I think it’s important for children to learn to contain their emotions in games like this.
Teams will play twice in matches that count for league standings: at Etiwanda on January 11 and at Rancho Cucamonga on January 25.
Knight knows the Cougars can’t relax against Etiwanda just because the losing streak is broken.
“(We have to) stay aggressive and be hungry,” Knight said. “Every time we see them, we have to come with the same intensity as the first time.”