Dave Cassaw was worried.
His La Costa Canyon High School basketball team hadn’t won a game in three weeks and hadn’t played in 10 days.
“I didn’t know how we’d respond,” the Mavericks coach said. “I thought we’d be OK, but you never know.”
Turns out Cassaw had little to worry about.
La Costa Canyon (20-8) raced to an early 18-point lead, then held off a determined Ventura St. Bonaventure 75-63 in Tuesday’s first round Division 2 Southern California Regional playoff game. The fourth-seeded Mavericks (20-8) play the winner of Bakersfield Christian at home on Thursday.
“St. Bonaventure made a couple of runs, but we had a lot of guys step up, do things that don’t show in the scorebook,” Cassaw said. “I thought Cameron Brown and Ryan Quain played really well.”
The Mavericks raced to an 18-point lead with 4:30 to play in the first half, but thje Seraphs finished the half on a 14-4 run to cut the deficit to eight at 43-35.
LCC’s Drew Clevinger had 18 points at the half, including four first-quarter 3-pointers. He finished with a game-high 27 points, including six 3-pointers.
“That’s what I do,” Clevenger said when asked about his shooting prowess. “It’s not that the guys find me, but if I’m open, I’ll shoot it.”
Trevor Ladd, who has signed to play football at Virginia, scored just four points, but had 13 rebounds and battled St. Bonaventure big man Dylan Benner tough.
Benner, a four-year varsity player, has more than 1,100 career rebounds and 1,800 career points. He finished Tuesday with 22 points, 10 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
Cassaw called Ladd “our unsung hero.”
Benner has committed to play at Army.
“Playing against the big guy was fun,” Ladd said. “I look forward to challenges like that.”
Jasper Buck finished with 17 points for LCC while Quain had 16 and Brown 10.
The Mavericks played just five men.
“I don’t know what coach was worried about,” Ladd said. “We prepared really well. “Obviously, playing at home, making them ride a bus to get here is an advantage, And we play really well at home.
“We ran our sets really well. Both teams played hard. This team is really close. We enjoy playing together. We hang with each other off the court, too.”
Jeremy Goodcase finished with 13 points for St. Bonaventure; Mathew Wilson and Sam Seidon added 12 each.
St Bonaventure (24-10), the No. 13 seed, had won nine in a row before losing to La Habra in the Southern Section Division 3 championship game. The Seraphs, champions of the Tri-Valley League, are ranked No. 166 in the state.
The Mavericks have won 20 or more games 12 times since the 2004-05 season.
