El Toro's Boys Charge Past Tesoro, 65-45, and Into Basketball Playoffs

It was billed as a third-place showdown featuring two of the hottest teams in the South Coast League. Winner would earn an automatic invitation to the CIF Southern Section Division 1A playoffs. Loser would finish fourth, with no such guarantee.

Tesoro was coming off its biggest victory of the season over previously undefeated Mission Viejo last week and had won three straight games and four of its last five. El Toro dropped a tough four-point overtime game to the Diablos two days ago, but had won four of its past six and defeated Tesoro in their previous meeting by two in overtime.

However, seldom does a sequel live up to the original. That certainly was the case Thursday night at El Toro High.

On Senior Night, the Chargers bolted to an 11-0 lead almost before the blue and yellow balloons could be put away. They extended it to 16 points by the end of the first quarter and, except for a few minutes in the third quarter, never looked back in defeating the Titans, 65-45, to claim the bronze medal in league play.

El Toro, ranked No. 9 in the Division 1A coaches' poll, finishes the regular season at 15-11 overall and 4-4 in league. Tesoro, ranked No. 7, falls to 16-10 and 3-5.

“We talked a lot about coming out with high energy, and the seniors wanted to come out and win the game,” said Chargers coach Todd Dixon, after the traditional season-ending senior dunk contest after the game. “As coaches, we like to turn on the light switch, and high energy is good for us.”

Playing a huge role in the victory—as he has over the past couple of weeks for the Chargers, was Mr. Electric, Colin Zavrsnick. The senior jump-started El Toro by hitting a three-pointer, then went steal-to-basket and steal-to-basket before Tesoro could score three minutes into the contest.

Two more jumpers gave Zavrsnick 11 points in the quarter and a jumper in the second quarter gave El Toro its largest lead of the game, 32-11. Zavrsnick finished with a game-high 21 points, including three three-pointers.

“We just wanted to get off to a good start on Senior Night,” Zavrsnick said. “We forced some turnovers, got some steals and were aggressive on defense.”

Unlike the previous game against Tesoro, when the Chargers played a zone defense that allowed Titans All-CIF guard Dusty Baker to score 39 points, El Toro stayed with its match-up defense while Mack Spees and Jason Amato continually hounded Baker.

Baker didn’t score a basket until 1:05 was left in the first half and was only two of seven from the field for the game. He finished with 12 points, making eight of 10 free throws, before fouling out on a technical foul with 2:53 remaining in the game.

El Toro allowed Tesoro to get back in the game for the first seven minutes of the third quarter by making only four of 15 shots and none from three-point range in five attempts, while the Titans made 10 of 12 free throws to cut their deficit to 40-30. But four consecutive three-pointers -- two by Ryan Roberts to end the third quarter, and one each by Zavrsnick and Roberts to start the fourth -- gave the Chargers a 52-30 lead and seal the victory with 6:20 left.

After the game, Tesoro coach Steve Garrett was classy in defeat. He gave El Toro all the credit for the victory and refused to allow the loss that kept his team out of the automatic playoff spot to dampen an otherwise gratifying season by the Titans.

“They came out inspired, it was their Senior Night, and they took it to us,” Garrett said. “I’m not heartbroken at all. We had some good wins, beating Mission last week, and [our players] improved every week. El Toro was expected to go to the playoffs, we weren’t. So I’m not heartbroken at all with our season.

“(El Toro) just threw the first punch, so to speak, and we didn’t respond. They are starting to hit their stride.”