Prep basketball: Del Campo beats El Camino to end losing streak; keeps playoff hopes alive
The Del Campo Cougars needed a win on their home floor in the worst way, and they got it.
Head coach Brendan Erickson’s team won at home in Fair Oaks on Tuesday by taking down longtime Capital Athletic League rival El Camino, 56-49, to snap a six-game losing streak. At 10-13 on the season with five games remaining, the Cougars have time to get back over .500 and make a run at the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
“It was big for us, coming off a couple tough games,” Erickson said. “To be able to do that here at home, it’s big time for us right now.”
It marked the second time Del Campo had beaten the Eagles this month, although the last victory Jan. 4 was the team’s only other league win to date. The Cougars and Eagles share the same 2-5 record in league play while El Camino boasts the better overall record at 13-10.
Del Campo got contributions from Nico Wedderburn and Riley Jackson, who paced the Cougars with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Their second-half scoring was imperative for Del Campo to hold off the section’s most prolific scoring backcourt featuring Mateen Rafiq and Ivan Soto. Rafiq came in as the leading scorer in the section, averaging 28.4 points per game, but Del Campo held him to 14.
“We just tried to face guard them,” Erickson said. “They’re still going to score because they’re so freaking good. They’re going to get open, they’re going to hit shots, and you really can’t give them anything.”
Wedderburn scored 13 points in the second half by getting aggressive with the ball in his hands while the Eagles were more focused on slowing his teammates. Jackson hit a 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining that made it 52-45 to put the game out of reach.
“They were huge,” Erickson said of Wedderburn and Jackson. “They started going to the basket strong ... but Nico finished how we should and then Riley just being able to control the game, hits a big 3 at the end, and then knocks down a couple free throws to put it away for us.”
Wedderburn and Jackson entered the night as the team’s third and fourth leading scorers. El Camino was focused on slowing down Del Campo’s most lethal offensive player, 6-foot-5 junior Javi Sidhu, double-teaming him throughout the game. Sidhu came in averaging 20.6 per game but finished with just eight on Tuesday. The team’s second-leading scorer, forward Jacob Wright, had 12 points.
Up next for the Cougars are two key games against teams they’ve already lost to: Sacramento High (16-6, 4-2) and Rio Americano (19-4, 6-1). Erickson said the team has a clear idea of how to improve in order to finish the regular season on the right track.
“I think just be more disciplined,” he said. “We have a good understanding of what’s going on in front of us. I tell the guys sometimes, I don’t have a controller. I can’t control them throughout the game. We got to be able to recognize them as players. It’s gotta be their team. I want to win, they want to win, but it’s got to be them together in order to get to where we want to be at the end of the year.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
