Jefferson rallies past El Camino in PAL boys’ basketball opener

Tied 36-36 midway through the third quarter, Jefferson point guard Mason Tran drilled a 3-pointer out of the corner to spark a 14-2 run. The Grizzlies would drain five 3s in the half, but the post play of center Ta’saan Clark and power forward Will Narvaez, who finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively, helped put the game on ice.

“Our bigs are really good,” Jefferson head coach John Falabella said. “So, getting the ball inside is something we can do.”

Falabella deserves half the credit for the old-school vibe in Tuesday PAL North opener. The other half goes to El Camino head coach Boe Egipto. The two are former teammates at Jefferson, where they were part of some formidable teams in the mid-1990s.

As the rambunctious El Camino defense persisted late in the game, however, Jefferson was successful at calming things down, running its sets, and getting the ball flowing to its tall post players.

“Hopefully we’ll go back to our El Camino style of play,” Egipto said. “Tonight, it was a tough loss. We just lost our composure at the end. I get it, it’s one of our rivals, and they know a lot of the guys over there. So, emotions are very high. … We always bring out the best in them, and they do the same with us.”

El Camino (0-1, 6-7) set the tone early, with junior forward Gabe Rocha scoring seven of his game-high 18 points in the first quarter. The Colts led 16-9 with a minute to go in the period but Jefferson equalized with a 7-0 run to tie it early in the second.

Then Colts guard Chancel Rico came off the bench and excited with a mid-range barrage. Rico — who missed El Camino’s last two games — matched his season-high for points in a quarter, scoring all 10 of his points in the second period.

“That guy’s mid-range is about 70%,” Egipto said. “He came off the bench and he played wonderful. It’s just we didn’t find him enough touches in the second half. That kind of hurt us a little bit.”

Still, the game was deadlocked 26-26 at the half, and stayed that way as the two teams came out blazing from 3-point territory after the break. Tran drilled two early 3s for the Grizzlies, with El Camino answering both times with 3s from Rocha and Antonio Arenas.

With the game still tied at 36-36, though, Falabella called a timeout to design a 3-point look. The play called for forward Myles Solanoy to drive the middle, and when he drew two defenders, he kicked it out with an assist pass to Tran in the corner. The senior connected for the most impactful shot of the night.

“We designed it one way, but then when they helped, the corner became open and he was able to knock it down,” Falabella said. “He’s a great shooter though. So, we expect those kind of shots.”

Solanoy totaled three assists on the night, all in the third quarter.

“He’s an amazing player,” Tran said. “An amazing offensive player, an amazing ball handler. And when he wants to, he can get the ball to other people easily.”

Falabella also took a moment during the timeout to insist his Grizzlies establish their tempo on offense, using flowing passes, and mainaining calm, to offset the pressure defense of El Camino.

“El Camino plays a unique style of defense,” Falabella said. “So, really, we have to execute. … Not a lot of teams play the way that they do, so you’ve got to kind of get a feel for it as the game goes on, and we were able to execute towards the end.”

Then Narvaez punctuated the third quarter with a big defensive play. El Camino tried to slow a streak of six straight Jefferson points at the end of the period with a 3 of its own, getting the ball into the corner for a potential buzzer-beater. But Narvaez anticipated the play and got to the spot to block the shot with authority.

“After the made 3s, the defensive team tries to focus on stopping those 3s,” Tran said. “So now, with the court opened up, we have more space to feed the ball to our bigs and get easier buckets.”

The Grizzlies rode their bigs into the sunset. Jefferson out-rebounded El Camino 33-26, including 11 offensive boards.

Jefferson — a team of mostly seniors, with just two juniors on roster — has good momentum heading into PAL North play, having now won seven of its last eight.

“I think we can win it all,” Tran said. “We did really well during the preseason… … We have a strong motive this year. We just want to win it all. We want to make a name for ourselves.”