Garcia lifts Damien to win over Colony
LA VERNE >> For many years at Glendora and now at Damien, Spartans coach Mike LeDuc always seems to have teams led by perimeter scorers, whether it was Casey Jacobson and Tracy Murray at Glendora or Malik Thomas at Damien.
So you can imagine how much he is enjoying 6-foot11 sophomore Nate Garcia, who dominated Friday’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 second-round playoff game against visiting Colony.
Garcia scored a gamehigh 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to push the Spartans to a 6249 victory.
Damien (26-4) advances to the quarterfinals, and will be on the road Tuesday against Mira Costa.
Leading by five points at halftime, the Spartans ran nearly everything through Garcia in the second half. He scored the first 11 points of the third quarter and scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter.
He made every field goal for the Spartans in the final period. Garcia scored 22 of his 29 in the second half.
He knew what the Spartans had to do with the game close at halftime.
“I know they can’t stop me and our offense runs through me,” Garcia said. “We had to run something, so we got the ball to me and we won.”
Asked what’s it’s like to have a dominant big man, LeDuc simply said, “It’s wonderful.”
Garcia didn’t play much as a freshman, but he has evolved over the season and the Spartans have come to rely on him.
“He works so hard and improved so much,” LeDuc said. “It’s kind of what we have come to expect from him and he knows it. He’s a strong young man and he’s able to handle it.”
Damien’s Xavier Clinton also had a big game, nailing four 3-pointers and finishing with 16 points.
Colony (24-8) was led by Joseph Riggins’ 16 points and Denzel Hines had 13.
Colony coach Jerry De Fabiis was impressed by Garcia.
“He’s a problem and he’s so good because coach (LeDuc) gets him the ball,” De Fabiis said. “Our big guy (Denzel Hines) has to score and guard him and he ran our of gas. Nate has a good supporting cast and our supporting cast is good too. But Nate is so hard to matchup with and he’s just a sophomore, which is the scary part.”