Balanced attack carries El Toro

LAKE FOREST – El Toro pushed and pushed, despite shots not falling at the rate it would have liked, until it came away with a 56-47 boys basketball victory over Trabuco Hills on Friday night in a nonleague game at El Toro High.

"We just wanted to create that tempo," El Toro coach Todd Dixon said. "If we make it an up-and-down game, our depth was going to make the difference in the game.

"We stress tempo a lot, so we want to try to push the ball. We really wanted to wear them down. We didn't shoot very well today so it was nice to see our defense really step up, that was important."

OCVarsity Hot Shots: Friday's basketball games

The Chargers (18-5) got a balanced scoring attack, with four players finishing in double-digits despite the team's struggles from the field. Cody White led the way with 14 points, George Buaku and Sean Harman both contributed 13 andTanner Aguera added 10.

Trabuco Hills' Craig Magyar led all scorers with 25 points — including a game-high three 3-pointers — in the losing effort. Redd Tucker was also in double figures, scoring 13 points for the Mustangs (8-7).

"We kind of knew where those guys were at all times and didn't give them too many open looks," Dixon said, referring to Magyar, Tucker and shooting guard Aaron Johnson, who finished with two points.

The visitors' strongest charge came early in the fourth quarter when a sequence of six empty possessions by El Toro allowed Trabuco Hills to close to five points. Magyar's 3-pointer from the right corner punctuated the 6-0 run and cut the deficit to 43-38 with 5:05 to play, but the Mustangs could not get any closer.

The Chargers led, 30-26, at halftime, fighting back from a five-point first-quarter deficit built largely on the shoulders of Magyar, who scored 10 of his team's 15 points in the opening period.