Century League : El Modena Edges Into Third Place, 51-49

Just when everything seemed to be falling apart for the El Modena High School basketball team Friday night, guard Darren DeFeo sank four free throws in the final 37 seconds to give the Vanguards a 51-49 Century League win over Santa Ana and a berth in the Southern Section 4-A playoffs.

Orange, which beat Santa Ana Valley Friday night, won the league championship, and Santa Ana finished second. El Modena and Foothill (which beat Tustin) closed the regular season tied for third place, with 9-5 records.

The first tie-breaking criterion in the Century League is head-to-head competition, and the Vanguards and Knights split their season series, 1-1. The second criterion is the teams’ record against the league champion.

El Modena split with Orange, while Foothill lost twice to the Panthers, so the Vanguards will enter the playoffs as the league’s third-place representative. It marks El Modena’s first post-season appearance since 1980, when the Vanguards were eliminated in the 3-A quarterfinals.

Things weren’t looking so good for the Vanguards in the fourth period Friday night, when the Saints trimmed El Modena’s nine-point lead to two, 47-45, with 1:12 remaining in the Vanguards’ gym.

First, El Modena Coach Bill Ervin watched his best all-around player, Ryan Rycraw, foul out of the game with 3:44 left. Then, Ervin’s leading scorer, 6-7 center Colin Moss, fouled out with 1:27 to go. But, though the Saints had their chances, they weren’t able to tie the game.

DeFeo missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with 1:02 left, and Santa Ana controlled the rebound. The Saints had two shots at the other end--one by forward Jeff Stewart and one by center Roger Flores--but both failed and DeFeo grabbed the rebound on the second miss.

DeFeo was fouled, and this time, the 6-2 junior hit both clutch free throws to give the Vanguards a 49-45 lead. Chris Smith’s jumper brought the Saints within two, 49-47, but the sophomore made a costly mistake on defense.

Smith’s jumper came with 28 seconds left, and Santa Ana had the Vanguards trapped in their backcourt on their ensuing possession. But just before El Modena was to be called for a 10-second violation, Smith fouled DeFeo with 16 seconds left.

DeFeo again stepped to the line and made two crucial free throws, and the Vanguards regained their four-point lead, 51-47.

Saint guard Rich Tellez’s shot was blocked by El Modena forward Vinnie McDuffie with seven seconds left. Jason Hamlin snared the loose ball and was fouled. He missed the free throw, and Santa Ana’s Eric Turner made a 25-foot jumper with two seconds to go. But the Saints still came up two points short.

“Some of our inexperience showed in the end,” Santa Ana Coach Greg Coombs said. “We took some questionable shots, and we got caught up trying to come from behind.”

Rycraw finished with a team-high 16 points for El Modena (15-8 overall), while Moss added 14. Turner led the Saints with 17 points and Flores had 15, but the Vanguards held Flores scoreless in the final quarter.

It looked as though Rycraw was headed for an off-night when he made just one of his first eight shots from the field, but the junior forward found his touch in the second quarter and hit three straight shots to give El Modena a 23-18 lead.

Santa Ana came back behind Flores, who hit two free throws and a follow shot in the final 2:23 of the period, to cut the Vanguards’ halftime lead to three, 25-22.

The Saints took the lead twice in the third quarter but again faltered toward the end of the period, as the Vanguards reeled off 10 straight points for a 41-32 lead.

DeFeo made one basket during the surge, but his two assists should be highlighted. First, he hit McDuffie with an around-the-back pass, which resulted in a lay up. After a Santa Ana turnover, DeFeo passed to Rycraw, who was trailing on the break, and Rycraw sank the jumper from the free-throw line with 10 seconds left in the quarter.

Stewart, who scored seven points in the fourth quarter, brought the Saints back with his outside shooting, but Santa Ana failed to get the ball inside to Flores and Turner enough for the high-percentage shots.

SANTA ANA (49)--Tellez 2, Stewart 9, Bailey 4, Flores 15, Turner 17, Smith 2.

EL MODENA (51)--Hamlin 4, Rycraw 16, DeFeo 6, Moss 14, McDuffie 6, Ervin 2, Baytosh 3.

Santa Ana 10 12 10 17 -- 49

El Modena 14 11 16 10 -- 51

In other Century League action:

Orange 67, Santa Ana Valley 63--Eric Hendry scored 23 points to lead the Panthers to the league championship with a victory over the Falcons at Santa Ana Valley.

Orange (12-2, 18-7) entered the night tied for first place with Santa Ana, but the Saints lost to El Modena, thereby giving the Panthers the league title outright.

The Panthers and the Falcons kept it close until the final minutes, when Orange managed to pull ahead. Alonzo Jamison scored 22 points for the Falcons, who finished in fifth place with an 8-6 record, 9-12 overall.

ORANGE (67)--McIntire 2, Peet 16, McCoy 4, Bertrand 2, Roth 20, Hendry 23.

SANTA ANA VALLEY (63)--Whitlock 10, Hickman 2, Jamison 22, Alls 15, Nelson 11, Ross 3.

Orange 12 17 20 18 -- 67

Santa Ana Valley 14 15 16 18 -- 63

Foothill 83, Tustin 62--Guard Jud Dutrisac scored 27 points and Ralph Laird added 24, as the Knights (9-5, 18-8) beat the Tillers (3-11, 8-17) at Tustin. Steve Gauer led Tustin with 19 points and teammate Kerby Piazza added 18.

Most of the league’s coaches picked the Knights to win the league championship this season, but Foothill will not be going to the Southern Section 4-A playoffs.

The Knights finished in a tie for third place with El Modena, but the Vanguards met the criterion to gain the league’s third and final playoff spot.

FOOTHILL (83)--Dutrisac 27, Gore 16, Gazzaniga 1, Laird 24, Briggs 4, Parker 2, Myers 6, Clark 3.

TUSTIN (62)--Boyce 2, Anderson 12, Piazza 18, Gauer 19, Kovac 5, Predney 2, Duff 4.

Foothill 16 18 26 23 -- 83

Tustin 16 12 18 16 -- 62

Villa Park 69, Canyon 67--David Dufualt made a free throw with five seconds left to give the Spartans their first league win. Dufualt (26 points) had 8 of Villa Park’s 13 points in the fourth quarter. He also had 14 rebounds for the Spartans (1-13). Chris Rippe had 16 points for the Comanches (3-10).

CANYON (67)--Rippe 16, Spencer 10, Lopez 15, Stiene 14, Rean 2, Mury 5, Phillips 1, Garcia 4.

VILLA PARK (69)--Ayers 6, Dufault 26, Hertel 4, Jacobs 5, Koob 19, Ackerman 4, Ramirez 5.

Canyon 18 17 15 17 -- 67

Villa Park 11 21 24 13 -- 69