SAN DIEGO — Foothill boys basketball coach Rusty Van Cleave said that he is a big fan of second chances.
The Knights lost to Westlake of Westlake Village in the semifinals of the CIF-SS Division 2AA playoffs, but they were able to resuscitate and extend their season for at least a few more days.
Foothill traveled south Wednesday night and defeated No. 7 Francis Parker on its home court, 54-38, in the first round of the CIF Southern California Regionals.
Foothill, seeded 10th in Division 2, moves on to play Compton on the road Saturday night.
Van Cleave said he wasn’t surprised by his teams ability to refocus after a loss.
“I’d have to look back, but I don’t remember a having two-game losing streak (this season),” he said. “This group is eager to practice every day, so I expected us to come out, play hard and compete.”
Van Cleave was right.
Foothill (24-7) hasn’t suffered a two-game losing streak this season, and junior forward Eric Patton was a big reason why that statistic remained intact.
Patton finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds against Parker’s 6-10 forward Evan Fitzner.
Foothill led, 31-27, after a sloppy three quarters, but the Knights turned it on in the fourth.
With the Foothill leading, 39-33, with just over four minutes to play, the Knights went on 15-1 run to put the game out of reach.
Van Cleave said Foothill stepped up defensively in the fourth quarter.
“I think our defense was really good,” he said. “I think a little bit of depth on our side helped. I think our eight (players) were a little too much for their six.”
The St. Mary’s-bound Fitzner did most of the damage for the Lancers (26-6), scoring 23 of the teams’ 38 points, while pulling down 10 rebounds.
Jacob Dean scored nine points for Foothill and Myles Garvin, Riley O’Hern and Andrew Ammann each had six points.
Contact the writer: dugland@ocregister.com
