The El Camino Colts got off to a quick start and used excellent defense late to hold off Saint Francis, 53-48, in the semifinals of the Saint Francis Holiday Tournament. With the win, the Colts (10-1) advance to the championship game, where they will face Deer Valley Friday night (7:45 pm). St. Francis (6-3) will take on Palma in the third-place game on Friday (6:15 pm).
Guard Anthony Knight scored 12 of El Camino's 17 first-quarter points, and the Lancers came out flat, scoring only four points the entire quarter. Senior center Drew Dickey scored all four of those first-quarter points and finished the first half with eight of the Lancers' 14 first-half points. St. Francis trailed, 28-14, at the half.
St. Francis opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run to get back into the game, cutting the deficit to 28-23. St. Francis scored 16 points in the third quarter - more than they scored in the entire first half - to pull within nine at the end of three quarters.
The Lancers pulled within one point on a Dickey free throw with two minutes left, but the Colts answered with a quick basket to increase the lead back to three. El Camino had a chance to ice the game, but junior forward Michael Smith (19 points) was called for traveling with 26.1 seconds left, giving the Lancers a chance. The Lancers couldn't capitalize, and and had to foul Knight with 10 seconds left. Knight hit the first, but missed the second. The miss was rebounded by senior forward Truman Lee for the Colts, and he was fouled, hitting both to make it a five-point lead. St. Francis senior guard Durell Crooks then took the ball down the court for a layup with four seconds remaining to cut the lead to three, but on the ensuing inbound pass, El Camino junior point guard Elija White was fouled and hit both free throws to ice the game.
The Colts overcame the absence of White, one of their best players, throughout most of the second half due to foul trouble in the third quarter. He came back with 5:40 left in the game, and his presence was felt immediately when he hit a three on his first possession back. The 14-point lead El Camino built in the first half proved to be enough to overcome the loss of White, as well as the lack of scoring from Knight until near the end of the 4th quarter.
Dickey (26 points, 10 rebounds) had game-highs in points and rebounds to keep the Lancers in the game, as the rest of the team had a rough shooting game after being hot yesterday. Anther problem for the Lancers was free-throw shooting, as St. Francis hit just 14-of-22 from the line.
