Century League : Foothill Beats El Modena to Move Into Four-Way Tie

You could say that almost nothing went right for the El Modena High School basketball team Wednesday night at Foothill.

But that would be misleading. It was actually much worse than that.

The Vanguards came to Foothill with a reasonable expectation of beating the Knights, this year’s Century League favorites, for the first time in four years.

They left two hours later under the cover of darkness.

If this was an example of home court advantage, the Knights must suffer intolerable homesickness on the road. Foothill diced, sliced, and pureed their guests on the way to a 76-44 victory.

That result created a four-way tie for first place in the league among Foothill (12-4 overall), El Modena (9-5), Santa Ana and Orange at 3-1.

El Modena, which has waited seven years for a league title, would have been perched atop the standings alone . . . had the Vanguards won.

However, the short, stocky, speedy team from Foothill took the lead on the game’s third basket and never considered abandoning it.

The Knights were lacking the services of sixth-man David Gazzaniga, the only person on the team taller than 6-feet 3-inches. The 6-5 center sprained his ankle in Monday’s Villa Park game and will be out for two weeks.

But he’s welcome to take up hang-gliding for all the Knights apparently care. Height gets no respect around Foothill, as the Vanguards’ Colin Moss (6-7) discovered.

An outstanding player, Moss was rendered ineffective by the coverage of Stacy Parker and Shawn Clark. He managed only 12 points. Meanwhile, the Vanguards only got one more rebound than the Knights, who had a total of 24 to rob El Modena of any opportunity to rejoin the game.

Foothill’s early 15-8 advantage allowed the quicker Knights to run their fast break and spread their offense to zig-zag to the basket, using El Modena’s slower, man-to-man defenders as human slalom poles.

Foothill’s zone press reaped 11 steals in the first half.

When things go wrong, they really go wrong. El Modena struggled with turnovers, air balls, an epidemic of fouls and abysmal free throw shooting.

The Vanguards made only 6 of 21 free throws. The Knights, who earn pizzas for sharp-shooting in practice, converted 28 of 37.

The spectators at Foothill were anything but polite, as the shouting of the rooter section ranged from noisily playful to noisily cruel. The officials halted the game in the second half to retrieve chocolate bars from the floor.

Jud Dutrisac and Greg Gore fueled the rout with 15 points each, while Clark added 12. Ralph Laird and Gar Myers were notable for helping to fluster El Modena on defense.

EL MODENA (44)--Moss 12, Rycraw 11, McDuffie 2, Matlock 2, DeFeo 2, Honda 2, Baytosh 2, Hamlin 8, Ervin 2, Rodriguez 1.

FOOTHILL (76)--Dutrisac 15, Myers 9, Laird 9, Briggs 2, Clark 12, Parker 6, McKay 4, Curran 2, Gore 15, Kim 1, Rossier 1.

In other Century League action:

Orange 69, Villa Park 43--Eric Hendry worked his way inside for 14 points in the first quarter to lead the host Panthers on a 28-8 scoring burst in the opening period. Hendry finished with 26 points. David Roth added 14 for Orange (3-1, 9-6). David Dufault led Villa Park with 13 points. VILLA PARK (43)--Dufault 13, Hertel 4, Koob 4, Christensen 2, Steensland 2, Akerman 4, Ramirez 11, Russo 2, Cosca 1.

ORANGE (69)--Holman 6, McIntire 4, Miller 3, Hamilton 1, Peet 6, McCoy 4, Tipple 4, Roth 14, Hendry 26.

Canyon 65, Santa Ana Valley 61--Chris Rippe had 17 points and 9 rebounds to pace the host Comanches (2-2, 7-7). Teammate Dave Spencer added 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Santa Ana Valley (2-2, 3-8) was led by Alonzo Jamison’s 18 points. SANTA ANA VALLEY (61)--Alls 7, Drake 10, Jamison 18, Nelson 8, Ross 1, Whitlock 17.

CANYON (65)--Rippe 17, Spencer 15, Lopez 12, Stine 2, Ream 13, Mury 2, Phillips 4.

Santa Ana 61, Tustin 38--Sophomore forward Jeff Stewart scored 23 points and Roger Flores added 15 as the Saints improved their league record to 3-1 with the win at Tustin, which is 0-4. SANTA ANA (61)--Tellez 1, Stewart 23, Flores 15, Turner 10, Smith 1, Bailey 2, Thomas 5, Nelson 1, Poincet 2, Brown 1.

TUSTIN (38)--Piazza 8, Kovac 9, Gauer 3, Anderson 6, Predney 3, Lay 4, Duff 2, Boyce 3.