HS HOOPS: Slowdown tactics nearly derail Taft at Nike event

SANTA ANA -- Concord De La Salle High is best known as a football school, but the Spartans put together an effective game strategy against high-powered Taft on Saturday in an intersectional basketball showdown at the 16th annual Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High.

With no player taller than 6-foot-4, De La Salle slowed the tempo down to a crawl and nearly escaped with a shocking upset before Taft finally turned it on in the waning minutes to escape with a 49-42 overtime win that felt a lot more like a loss.

Three times Taft went nearly five minutes without scoring, and the Toreadors' point total was their lowest since 2009. Through 32 minutes of regulation, the score was tied 32-32 before Taft awoke from its slumber and outscored De La Salle 17-10 in overtime.

"We came out a little slow," said Taft's Kevin Johnson, making quite an understatement. "We tried everything. They just played good defense. We finally came back at the end and played our game."

Both teams had more turnovers than assists, and neither received a single point from its bench, as Taft (21-2), ranked No. 4 in California by Maxpreps, totaled just 11 points over the middle two periods.

Taft's Spencer Dinwiddie scored 16 points, nine in overtime, and without him Taft probably would have been in big trouble.

"The pace was so slow that we kind of lost our focus. It was really slow," Dinwiddie said. "We played hard."

De La Salle (18-4) often passed the ball six to eight times and gobbled about 25 seconds off the shot before even thinking about trying to score.

Taft coach Derrick Taylor said it was not so surprising the outcome was so close - and so low-scoring.

"De La Salle is good. They're a really good team," Taylor said. "They're just so well-schooled. Every time we tried to speed it up, they forced us back into their tempo. The tempo was so slow that it was like a shock.

"They're not known as an offensive team, but they play really good defense. We played good defense, too. I think we kind of saved Taft's reputation tonight, but we were definitely bothered by the defensive pressure, and it took some time to adjust."

Of Taft's 21 victories, this was only the second decided by fewer than seven points.

"It took a lot out of us, but it was important to win a grind-it-out game," Taylor said. "De La Salle is a very good team, a very smart team with good players and an outrageously good coach. They knew all of our plays and scouted us well."

De La Salle has thrived on defense throughout the season, holding all but four opponents to fewer than 50 points, so the slow tempo was expected - just tough to handle.

"Before the game, we knew it might be one of these games," Taft's C.J. Blackwell said. "They like to run the shot clock down. It was frustrating the way they held the ball for so long."

Blackwell had 16 points, and Johnson added eight.

De La Salle's Travis Pacos scored 17 points, and Duke Da Re added 13.

NIKE EXTRAVAGANZA at Mater Dei HS

Taft 49, De La Salle 42 (OT)

DLS - 8-7-6-11-10-42

Taft 11-5-6-10-17-49

DLS - Udenyi 2, Da Re 13, Pitts 6, Morgan 4, Pacos 17.

Taft - Williams 7, Johnson 8, Blackwell 16, Dinwiddie 16, Maxwell 2.