PREP BASKETBALL : Century League : El Modena Rebounds for Victory

When El Modena High School’s junior guard Ryan Rycraw sank a 50-foot shot at the halftime buzzer to secure the Vanguard’s 27-24 lead, Santa Ana Valley Coach Tom Riach jumped to his feet, slapped his hand to his head and loudly moaned, “Oh no!”

Riach should have taken the shot as an indication of things to come as El Modena defeated Santa Ana Valley, 58-53, in Century League action Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 480 at El Modena.

But it was rebounding and not shooting which proved to be the key to El Modena’s victory. Although the Falcons shot 50% from the floor compared to the Vanguards’ 44%, El Modena outrebounded Santa Ana Valley, 31-19.

“I don’t think we played real well,” El Modena Coach Bill Ervin said. “But we did a better job of rebounding and (Colin) Moss had a good game.”

Moss, who led all scorers with 27 points and 16 rebounds, was the only Vanguard to score in every quarter. The 6-foot 7-inch senior center scored a majority of his points from right under the basket on turnaround jump shots.

El Modena’s victory creates a three-way tie for third place in the Century League. With Canyon forfeiting two victories because of an ineligible player, Santa Ana Valley was given a victory and is 8-5 in league, 9-11 overall. El Modena’s win (14-8 overall) and Foothill’s victory (17-8) over Canyon puts them at 8-5 also.

Falcon junior center Alonzo Jamison, who scored 22 points, only managed 8 in the first half, but compensated for his slow start in the second half and led all scorers in the fourth quarter with 8 points.

SANTA ANA VALLEY (53)--Alls 10, Jamison 22, Whitlock 10, Nelson 8, Ross 1, Shipp 2.

EL MODENA (58)--Moss 27, McDuffie 2, DeFeo 2, Rycraw 15, Hamlin 12.

In other Century League action:

Foothill 51, Canyon 43--Good inside shooting proved to be the edge the Knights needed as they defeated the Comanches (3-10, 8-15) in Anaheim.

Gar Myers scored a 14 points and had 8 rebounds to lead Foothill. Jud Dutrisac added 11 points and 7 rebounds.

FOOTHILL (51)--Dutrisac 11, Gore 9, Gazzaniga 4, Laird 9, Briggs 4, Myers 14.

CANYON (43)--Rippe 15, Spencer 10, Lopez 6, Ream 4, Garcia 2, Phillips 2, Salcedo 4.

Santa Ana 60, Villa Park 50--Santa Ana (11-2) had only led by one point at the half, but made 6 of 8 shots and 10 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter for the victory at Villa Park. Forward Roger Flores led the Saints with 22 points.

SANTA ANA (60)--Flores 23, Turner 8, Stewart 16, Tellez 3, Bailey 6, Smith 4.

VILLA PARK (50)--Ayres 2, Dufault 18, Hertel 4, Jacobs 15, Koob 11.

Orange 49, Tustin 43--Panther Dave Roth led all scorers with 20 points to help Orange to a 49-43 victory over Tustin.

Guard Tom Peete, who scored 10 points, hit three straight shots to secure the lead for Orange at 41-38 in the fourth quarter.

ORANGE (49)--Peete 10, McCoy 6, Roth 20, Hendry 13.

TUSTIN (43)--Boyce 4, Anderson 14, Piazza 9, Gauer 6, Lay 4, Kovac 4, Urschel 2.