Southern Section : 5-A Playoff Game : Compton Defeats Fountain Valley

Through three quarters of Friday night’s Southern Section 5-A playoff game, Fountain Valley High was outrun, outshot and generally outplayed by a Compton High team it had beaten in a nonleague game back in December.

Then came the fourth quarter, and what had looked like a Compton rout suddenly became a struggle as the Barons began a comeback that saw them outscore Compton, 19-9, over the first 6:54 of the fourth quarter.

But it wasn’t enough. Not when the Barons entered the final period trailing by 15 points, and certainly not when Compton was content to cling to the lead from the free-throw line. The Tarbabes had only one field goal in the fourth quarter but made 15 of 18 free throws to hold on for a 61-51 win at Fountain Valley.

Compton (16-7) advanced to next Friday’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Mater Dei, a 66-42 victor over Verbum Dei.

Barry Heads had a game-high 23 points for Compton, and Danny Morris added 20, including seven fourth-quarter free throws. Those points were precious, considering the way Fountain Valley (16-8) rediscovered the offense it had been missing most of the game.