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Irvine Tournament : Youthful Santa Ana Hurt by Turnovers in Championship

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Times Staff Writer

It was difficult for Greg Coombs, Santa Ana High School basketball coach, to be too disappointed with Friday night’s 57-54 loss to John W. North High in the championship game of the Irvine Tournament at University High School.

Coombs, who starts two sophomores and two juniors, had watched his Saints trim an 11-point deficit in the third period to two points with a minute to play. A few big baskets, and Santa Ana may have upset the quick and talented Huskies, who are 7-1--their only loss coming to Verbum Dei by one point (55-54).

Coombs thought the Saints performed well, considering this was the first time many of his players had been in a championship game at the varsity level. But it wasn’t a night for Coombs to completely extoll the virtues of his youth movement, either.

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“We had a chance to win and let it slip through our hands,” Coombs said.

Santa Ana (5-3) hurt itself early by committing eight turnovers in the first period and four more in the second, as North built a 32-21 halftime lead. But one turnover late in the game seemed bigger than all the others.

Trailing, 56-52, with 30 seconds remaining, Saint sophomore Leo Leon attempted to force a pass inside to Bobby Joyce. But Joyce never got his hands on the ball, the errant pass going out of bounds underneath the Santa Ana basket.

The Saints were forced to foul and North’s Scott Schanz made the front end of a one-and-one to seal the victory for the Huskies. Jeff Stewart, who led all scorers with 27 points and played a superb fourth quarter, added a basket at the buzzer to account for the final score.

Stewart single-handedly got the Saints back in the game. Santa Ana trailed, 50-44, with 3:20 left when the junior went on a tear, hitting four straight jumpers from the right corner, to bring the Saints to within two, 54-52, with 1:20 left.

Moments later, Stewart was called for tripping Tony Walker, and the Huskie guard went to the line in the bonus situation. Walker missed the free throw, but the ball bounded toward the sideline and, in the ensuing scramble, went off of Stewart’s knee and out of bounds.

North controlled the in-bounds pass and got the ball to Robby Washington, who drove the lane and dealt a pass to forward Eric Brown, who scored on a layup to give the Huskies a four-point cushion, 56-52. Leon’s turnover came on Santa Ana’s next possession.

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Brown led North with 18 points, including eight in the final period. The Huskies used a spread offense for most of the fourth quarter, with Schanz, Walker and Washington driving the lane and passing off to Brown and Andy Johnson, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Washington also teamed with Brown with 1:50 left when his pass to the open forward resulted in Brown’s slam dunk and a 54-48 lead. Johnson finished with 10 points and Schanz had 11, including 8 on outside jump shots in the first quarter.

Eric Turner added 11 points for Santa Ana and Joyce had 10.

“We came back a little late in this one,” Coombs said. “We missed some easy shots early, and you have to expect those turnovers from four underclassmen. But you always have to remember, it’s early in the season, and I’d rather they make mistakes now instead of in another month. Every game, we’re learning a little more.”

JOHN W. NORTH (57)--Walker 8, Washington 4, Schanz 11, Brown 18, Johnson 10, Calhoun 4, Bowie 2.

SANTA ANA (54)--Lynwood 2, Stewart 27, Bailey 4, Joyce 10, Turner 11.

In other Irvine Tournament action:

Woodbridge 70, Foothill 55--Adam Keefe, the Warriors 6-7 sophomore center, scored 31 points to lead Woodbridge to a win over the Knights for third place. Keefe made 11 of 15 shots from the floor and was 9 of 9 from the free-throw line.

Vince Bryan added 13 points off the bench for the Warriors, who improve to 7-2, while Mike Sullivan had 10 points. Foothill (6-2) was led by Mike Grahovac, who scored 17 points, Derek Johnson, who added 12 points, and Alan Schlines, who had 10 points.

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FOOTHILL (55)--Jordan 8, Johnson 12, Grahovac 17, Rasmussen 6, Schlines 10, Reiber 2

WOODBRIDGE (70)--Rounaghi 4, Murphy 8, Tork 4, Sullivan 10, Keefe 31, Bryan 13.

Corona del Mar 65, Mission Viejo 54--Jeff Fryer scored a game-high 28 points and had 10 rebounds to lead the Sea Kings to a fifth place finish. Doug Green added 13 points as Corona del Mar improved its record to 7-1.

CORONA DEL MAR (65)--Fryer 28, Turner 6, Christiansen 5, Bearbower 9, Green 13, O’Neil 2, Hook 2.

MISSION VIEJO (54)--Knowles 21, Herdman 6, Pederson 2, Mathews 8, Barret 6, Brown 10, Kelly 1.

Marina 69, Irvine 54--Mark Georgeson scored a game-high 17 points and 6-6 sophomore Steve Guild added 15 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists to lead the Vikings (7-3) to the seventh place title. Mike Herring led the Vaqueros with 16 points.

IRVINE (54)--Patchell 13, Tamura 7, Herring 16, Moceril 10, Snoddy 6, Oden 2.

MARINA (69)--Georgeson 17, Guild 15, Meyers 11, Quinn 2, Craft 7, Hazlette 5, Sterzer 2, Padilla 2, Hattabaugh 8.

Estancia 50, Moreno Valley 44--The Eagles made 11 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter to overcome a 36-35 deficit going into the period and win the consolation championship. Ron Brazell, who scored a game-high 22 points and was named to the all-tournament team, was a perfect 5 of 5 from the free throw line for Estancia (4-3) in the fourth quarter.

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ESTANCIA (50)--Mooney 11, Rusick 1, Brazell 22, Trejo 8, Tift 2, Pinckney 6.

MORENO VALLEY (44)--Hall 14, Sutton 9, Cummings 2, Schaper 4, Chambers 6, Sullivan 9.

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