LAKE FOREST – El Toro’s Demetrius Jackson showed why he received a full-ride college scholarship in the Chargers’ 63-55 victory over Mission Viejo in a nonleague boys basketball game Wednesday at El Toro High.
Jackson, who signed in November to play at Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colo., scored a game-high 35 points and was arguably the fastest, most athletic player on the court.
The 6-foot-1 guard, whose brother and father played college basketball, scored by driving hard to the basket and by shooting well from long range, hitting three 3-pointers.
“It’s a great advantage when you show up at a new job when you have an athlete and competitor like Demetrius,” said Nick Sainato, the first-year head coach for the Chargers (7-9). “He is obviously one of the best players in the area and he is always willing to get better.”
The Diablos (8-9) fell behind by nine points early in the game and never let the game get out of hand, but they had to battle from behind the entire way.
They were led by 6-foot-6 senior Tristan Williams, who scored 19 of his team-leading 24 points in the second half.
The Diablos cut the Chargers’ lead to six in the fourth quarter and had possession when Noah Agular made a steal, saved the ball from going out of bounds, and rifled a long pass to Jackson, who scored on a driving layup to make the score 54-46.
“It was a four-point swing,” Sainato said. “We talked about winning the game, you have to make some hustle plays at the end.”
The Diablos stayed close to the end, partly because of Williams, who scored his team’s final 10 points.
The Chargers made four of six free throws in the final seconds to secure the victory.