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SANTA ANA – There were no secrets left to share.

In two previous meetings, Godinez and El Toro had split a pair of very close games.

Perhaps that ramped up the pressure just a bit more as the teams prepared for their second round matchup at Godinez High.

Led by Brandon Smith’s 21 points, the Grizzlies recovered from a slow start to beat El Toro, 50-42, Tuesday night in the CIF-SS Division 1A playoffs.

Smith, coming off a 45-point game in the first round against University, added 14 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks against the Chargers (18-11).

Godinez (25-4), which has won 16 games in a row, will travel to face Foothill on Friday. The Knights (25-3) defeated Troy, 60-53, on Tuesday night.

“I knew we were going to be super good this year, but I didn’t think we were going to be this good,” Smith said of the winning streak.

Smith said that the Grizzlies were expecting a battle the third time around, and it played out that way. Godinez had not played a game decided by single digits in nearly a month.

Julian Bruce (14 points) scored five points in the first quarter to help El Toro to an early 9-4 lead.

In the second quarter, Abran Hernandez stepped up for the Grizzlies. He scored 10 of Godinez’s 14 points in the period, sparking his team to a 22-19 halftime edge.

“He’s a big key to what we do,” Godinez coach Gregory Coombs said of Hernandez. “This isn’t the first time he’s stepped up and done good things, got the ball to the right people and things like that.”

Godinez would extend their lead to as many as nine, but 3-pointers by Patric Schoen and Bruce cut El Toro’s deficit to five with two minutes remaining.

Smith closed out the game with a dunk and a floater in the paint.