Moss Leads El Mo Past Orange, 61-43

Forward Colin Moss made all the big plays as El Modena High School emerged as the only undefeated team in the Century League following a 61-43 win over Orange Monday night.

Moss led all scorers with 20 points and had 13 rebounds as the Vanguards improved to 3-0 in the eight-team league and 9-3 overall. Orange slipped into a four-way tie for second place with Santa Ana, Santa Ana Valley and Foothill at 2-1 and is 8-6 overall.

Moss, a 6-foot 6-inch senior, made a 12-foot jump shot at the buzzer ending the third quarter to push the Vanguards ahead, 39-30, and then opened the fourth quarter with a turnaround bank shot that extended the lead to 41-30. Orange never recovered.

Moss scored primarily off nice moves inside as he battled Orange center Eric Hendry for position and then consistently made short bank shots. He was 9 of 12 from the field.

“I’ve never had a starter who improved so much in one season,” Vanguard Coach Bill Ervin said. “I’d say he’s improved 100% over last year and I think he can play in somebody’s college program.

“He worked all summer getting his game together physically and mentally. I’m really pleased with his play and attitude. He’s quite a competitor.”

Moss helped the Vanguards break open a close game in third quarter by making three straight shots. His three-point play with 6:05 left in the third quarter gave El Modena a 31-22 lead, but Orange managed to come back.

The Panthers cut the lead to three points and the momentum seemed to be in their favor when Coach Ed Graham called a time out in an effort to set up a good play and move to within a point. But somehow Graham’s strategy backfired as junior forward Dave Roth attempted a wild, 20-foot shot that missed.

Orange never got closer and Graham pointed to Roth’s ill-advised shot as the turning point in the game.

“The ball was supposed to go inside and Dave fires up that shot,” Graham said. “Roth was terrible tonight and when he doesn’t play well like he can, it shows. Nobody followed directions tonight or listened to me.

“We weren’t ready for another big game after beating Foothill last Friday and this was El Modena’s first big game in the league. We’ll see what they do on Wednesday night when they have to play Foothill.”

In Roth’s defense, the 6-5 forward did lead his team with 14 points, but managed only 6 points in the second half when the outcome was on the line. Hendry added 11 points, but for the most part, Orange’s offense was sporadic all evening.

Guard Jason Hamlin scored 15 points for El Modena, most of his points coming on baseline jump shots.

“We can enjoy this win for the rest of the night and then we have to work on getting ready for Foothill tomorrow,” Ervin said. “I can’t think of anybody in this league who couldn’t give us a game on a given night. It seems like everybody gets up for us.”

ORANGE (43)--Roth 14, Hendry 11, Bertrand 2, McCoy 8, Holman 2, Peet 6.

EL MODENA (61)--Moss 20, Rycraw 7, Hamlin 15, McDuffie 5, Defeo 12, Baytosh 2.