Woodside uses 3 spree to double up El Camino

“It was rough,” Woodside senior Own Kinder said. “We definitely had that one.”

Since then, Woodside (8-2 PAL Ocean, 11-10 overall) has kept its hopes alive in the PAL Ocean race by winning three straight, capped by doubling up El Camino in Friday’s 60-30 home win in a battle for third place.

Kinder shared the game-high of 14 points with senior teammate Colin Ulrich, while Woodside cycled in all 13 of its players.

“I think our focus was playing hard from guy No. 1 to guy No. 13,” Woodside head coach Ramon Meacham said. “We’ve had a lot of games this season where we’ve been kind of up and down with our play. ... So, our focus has been, as we get to the end of league, we want to be playing our best basketball.”

Woodside shot 43.8% from the field, including 8 of 22 from long range. Seven different Wildcats got in the 3-point column, including junior reserves Hunter Taylor and Jesse Castillo each splashing down in the closing minutes.

“We’re definitely a 3-point shooting team,” Kinder said. “We like to shoot our 3s, and that’s when we play our best, for sure.”

It was the defense of Taylor and junior Marco Antonino that set the tone early, though. Woodside zeroed in on El Camino’s most prolific scorer, senior forward Markson Jacques, with Antonino putting on a defensive clinic in holding Jacques to six points.

Jacques had an early impact on the boards, and shared the game-high of eight rebounds with Antonino. But the Wildcats won the rebounding war 37-19, and used several second-chance shots to pull away in the second quarter.

El Camino (6-4, 12-10) started slow, en route to shooting just 23.1% from the field overall.

“I think it was just lack of energy on the bench,” El Camino junior Eli Ledesma said. “Everyone was kind of out of it. But, yeah, we’ll be back.”

The Wildcats took charge early in the second.

On the heels of a pull-up 10-footer by El Camino senior Ryeln Vinas, the Colts got the ball back, only to see Taylor slap it loose and run it down at midcourt to score a transition layup to push the lead to 15-7. El Camino junior Sean De Jesus responded by connection for a long wing 3, but Taylor was feeling the flow, and keyed on the spread offensive in the half-court set by driving a lane and drawing a gang of defenders before kicking it to the corner for senior Christian Struss to drill a 3.

Taylor finished with seven points, four rebounds and the one pivotal assist.

“This was definitely one of [Taylor’s] better games,” Meacham said. “He usually gives us defensive energy. He had a few good offensive plays today. So, anything offensive we can get from him is a plus, but defensive energy is his role for us, for sure.”

El Camino fired back with a 5-0 mini-run, closing the deficit to 18-15 on a pair of Ledesma free throws. It was as close as the Colts would get, however, as senior Luke Grech drilled a 3 from up to to set the Wildcats on a 9-0 run.

Woodside led by double digits throughout the second half, with senior David Figueroa scoring an early put-back. Jacques answered with a transition layup, finishing with a highlight-reel 360-degree spin under the cylinder. Antonino fired back with a swish 3 from the top of the key to push Woodside’s lead to 34-19.

Leading 40-23 going into the fourth, Woodside continued to dig deep, grabbing eight offensive rebounds over the final eight minutes.

Antonino finished with 13, and Grech 11, as Woodside takes control of third place in the PAL Ocean Division, one game behind Aragon and Hillsdale, both tied for first place. With two league games to play on the regular-season schedule, the Wildcats go head-to-head with Aragon this coming Tuesday.

“For us, it’s just about the seniors finishing their regular season on a high note,” Meacham said. “Playing for one another, and being able to make our argument for CCS as high as we can make it, in terms of our seeding. But we’re just playing for one another, and playing hard to finish out the season.”