RANCHO CUCAMONGA — Entering Wednesday, each of the last three games between the Rancho Cucamonga and Etiwanda boys basketball teams were decided by two points or less. That included a two-point Etiwanda win in the Inland Empire Classic in December.
When Rancho Cucamonga lost its best player, Texas A&M-bound senior guard Aaron Glass due to illness before the game, it seemed unlikely that it would be another close game.
It wasn’t. But not in the way most expected.
Rancho Cucamonga overcame the loss of Glass, scored the first 10 points of the game and never looked back in a 67-41 Baseline League rout of host Etiwanda.
The victory kept Rancho Cucamonga (17-7 overall, 2-0 league) in a tie for first in the league, while Etiwanda dropped to 13-9, 1-1.
“We had some kids who stepped up,” Rancho Cucamonga coach Bill Burke said. “They stuck to our game plan, exactly what we wanted to do. They (Etiwanda) couldn’t hit shots. We thought we had a really good game plan coming into the game, and we thought it we could execute like we did we’d have a chance to win.”
The Cougars were led by senior guard McKel Shedrick, who scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and added eight rebounds and three assists.
“I feel like we started the game off with good team ball,” Shedrick said. “We came ready to play and ready to make a statement.”
Rancho Cucamonga got off to a quick start in each half, leading 18-5 after a quarter and 23-9 early in the second quarter. After Etiwanda closed the gap to 28-22 at halftime, Rancho Cucamonga outscored the Eagles 22-4 in the third quarter, and led by as many as 32 points (64-32) midway through the fourth quarter.
“The Rancho-Etiwanda game is always an intense, tough game,” Etiwanda coach Danny Ryan said. “We beat them in the Inland Empire tournament this year. Anytime that happens, you know they’re going to be ready to go. Early on, Rancho was playing harder than us, you could tell they wanted it more than us. They were getting after it.”
Rancho Cucamonga’s 2-3 zone gave Etiwanda trouble. The Eagles tried to beat the zone by shooting 3-pointers, but they made only 1 of 8 3-pointers in the first quarter. The Eagles finished with five 3-pointers, while Rancho Cucamonga had 11.
“It had nothing to do with how many shots we missed,” Ryan said. “It had everything to do with how much harder they played than we played.”
Burke said the Cougars were preparing for the game without Glass, who was sick last week but didn’t miss a game until Wednesday. He attended Wednesday’s game and sat on the bench and wore a mask.
“We knew we weren’t going to have him,” Burke said. “We had two great days of practice. This is literally the first time in four years he ever missed a game.”
Burke said the Cougars did have some experience playing without Glass during the summer and fall.
“We felt pretty confident because in the summer and fall we got a lot of reps without ‘Ace’ (Glass),” said senior guard Chu Chu Osuji, who scored eight points. “In the last two days (in practice) we got a lot of reps. Everybody just had to step it up, give an extra 25 percent.”
After Shedrick, Tyler Pitts and Diego Murguia scored 12 points apiece and Izaiah Fiallos added 11. While Aiden Jensen scored only four points, he had nine rebounds, seven of which came in the first half.
Zion Booker led Etiwanda with seven points.
“What I want the boys to understand is that you can’t just walk onto the court, especially if you beat a team once, and just think you’re going to go through the motions (and win),” Ryan said. “We were going through the motions. We were not attacking or aggressive.”
