El Camino Falls to Rancho Santiago

The El Camino College men’s basketball team made a strong run late at Rancho Santiago but lost, 78-74, in the second round of the regional tournament Wednesday night in Santa Ana.

Rancho Santiago, the two-time state defending champion, led, 46-35, at the half and maintained a 10-point lead for most of the second half. El Camino rallied to close the margin in the final three minutes.

Michael Reynolds scored on a tip-in with 50 seconds left to get El Camino within 76-71, and a missed free throw by Rancho Santiago’s Glenn Greene gave El Camino the ball with 47 seconds left. But Tyrone Paul missed two three-point shots and the Dons’ Eric Dahl was fouled as he got the rebound with 22 seconds left. He made a free throw to put the Dons up, 77-71.

El Camino’s Troy Williams made a three-point basket with 10 seconds left to cut the lead to 77-74, but Dahl made another free throw with six seconds left for the final score.

Reynolds had a game-high 20 points and 12 rebounds for El Camino (12-14). Williams had 17 and Paul added 16 for the Warriors.

“They prevented us from getting our offense going,” El Camino Coach Paul Landreaux said. “So we just opened it up on offense and it worked pretty well.”

Amos had 18 for Rancho Santiago (23-9), which plays at Cerritos at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the third round.

“That was a good team we beat,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “We expected it to be close and it was.”