In a West Valley League showdown, two young rivals with great promise and terrific coaches faced off on Friday night. El Camino emerged victorious 64-51 because they played the simple game. Find the open man, hit the open shots. 

It helps that the Royals are led by the consistent and selfless play of junior Charles Eleri. There’s seemingly no one better in the West Valley League at the beginning of games. When everyone else still has butterflies, Eleri is at his most dangerous. He did it against Calabasas and seconds into this one he swiped the ball away from Taft and went coast-to-coast for the opening bucket.

El Camino head coach Colin Jamerson came out with a man-to-man defense instead of his usual zone and it rattled Taft early. But sophomore Joseph Dickson Jr. stabilized the Toreadors with his penetrating drives and junior Jayden Thomas’ emphatic dunk signaled the Toreadors would not be intimidated. 

The teams traded buckets in the opening minutes when Royals forward Lucas Le caught fire. Slashing to the rim and draining jumpers, Le hit 6 of 7 shots in the opening period, leading El Camino to a commanding 26-16 lead. Jamerson praised the team’s fast start: “We executed, good ball movement, the extra pass, the movement in the offense. We looked good from the very start.” 

Taft head coach Jonathan Willis challenged his players to bring more energy and the Toreadors responded in the second quarter, deploying a trapping defense that shut the Royals down and quickly cut the deficit to 26-23. 

Jamerson countered by turning to his bench and inserting sophomore Talan Green along with junior Jaydin Jackson. The pair sparked El Camino with hustle plays on both ends of the court, helping the Royals regain momentum. On offense, senior Royal sharpshooter Shawn Tunson took over, raining open three-pointers on Taft and fueling a 16-1 run that extended El Camino’s lead to 42-24 at halftime. 

Tunson and Le combined for 34 of the Royals’ first-half points, but it came down to Taft’s inability to consistently disrupt El Camino’s ball movement. And to their credit, the Royals were not settling for contested shots as they had against Birmingham. 

Down 18, the Toreadors lacked the firepower to close the gap, but one thing was for sure, they weren’t about to quit on Willis. Dickson Jr. led a spirited third-quarter push consistently driving the ball into the paint then either scoring or dishing to Thomas and sophomore Lazson Hebrard.

The Royals’ offense proved too powerful to be contained for long, with Le finding his rhythm again and senior Nicolas Phenix sinking two wide-open three-pointers. Despite Taft’s determined effort on both ends of the court, El Camino maintained a commanding 17-point lead at the end of the third quarter, 58-41.

Taft showed a lot of grit opening the fourth quarter hitting a pair of three-pointers to cut the lead to 13 with five minutes remaining. That’s when Jamerson instructed his team to bleed the clock. The risky move worked like a charm, stifling Taft’s momentum and neither team scored in the final five minutes of the game.

Dickson Jr. and Thomas each finished with 15 points while Hebrard added 12 in a strong showing on both ends. After the game, a thoughtful Willis was not pinning the loss on the offense, his focus was on the defensive shortcomings: “We didn’t guard in the first half. They scored 42 points (in a half), and that’s unacceptable. We showed flashes of good defense in the second half. But flashes aren’t enough in this league.” Willis emphasized his defensive mindset: “Scoring 51 points is fine, but you win games by getting stops.”

For El Camino, it was a complete team effort. Le had 23 points, while Tunson added 19. Jamerson praised his team’s unselfish play: “We went deep into our bench, and the defense was solid. (Dickson Jr.) is a phenomenal player, so we had to take the ball out of his hands and make others beat us.” Jamerson also highlighted Le’s resurgence: “We moved him back to guard, where he’s comfortable and he got his mojo back. Between Charles (Eleri), Shawn (Tunson), and Lucas (Le), if two of the three are playing at a high level, we’re tough to beat.” 

El Camino improves to 10-12 overall (1-3 in league play) and will face first-place Cleveland—winners of 10 straight— @ Cleveland on Wednesday at 5 P.M. Meanwhile, Taft drops to 9-12 (0-3 in league play) and will host Granada Hills Charter on Wednesday at 4:55 P.M.