Orange Tournament : Aqueveque’s Free Throws Give Foothill Upset Over Dominguez

Guard Chris Aqueveque made two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to lift Foothill High School to a 46-44 victory over previously unbeaten Dominguez Saturday night in the second round of the 22nd Orange Holiday Tournament in the Hutton Sports Center.

For a while, it had looked as though Dominguez might duplicate its come-from-behind victory against Ocean View last week in the championship game of the Tournament of Champions.

But the Dons (10-1) failed to make the clutch shots down the stretch and, because of the Knights’ tough zone defense, had difficulty getting the ball inside to their best player, Ronnie Coleman.

Foothill center Greg Rieber scored 6 of the Knights’ 11 points in the last quarter, but it was the play of Aqueveque in the final three minutes that decided the game.

Knight Coach Jim Reames ordered his team into a delay offense in the final 3:18. The Knights were holding a two-point lead, but Reames figured he had the ballhandlers to pull off the upset.

“We had to go to the delay because Dominguez has too many shooters,” Reames said. “Aqueveque is a mentally tough kid and a good ballhandler.

“We’ve been trying to beat a good team all year, and we finally won a big one. This was a big win for Foothill’s basketball program.”

The Knights (7-4) have lost to Mater Dei, Marina, Capistrano Valley and El Toro. But they never trailed against Dominguez, the tournament’s second-seeded team.

Coleman, the most valuable player at the Tournament of Champions, rarely got his hands on the ball and finished with only 14 points.

“The key was denying Coleman the ball and stopping him inside,” Reames said. “Greg Rieber has played very well in this tournament, and the nice thing is that he’s only a junior.”

Rieber gave the Knights their biggest lead of the game, 31-24, with 4:46 remaining in the third quarter, but Dominguez eventually tied the score, 38-38, with 4:53 left on a short jump shot by Coleman.

The teams traded baskets, turnovers and missed free throws down the stretch until Rieber made the key shots and Aqueveque the big free throws.

The upset set up a semifinal game Monday against Century League rival Santa Ana.

“You don’t like playing your league rival early in a tournament, but this was a big win for us,” he said. “I’ll take it.”

In other tournament games:

Santa Ana 55, Fountain Valley 42--The Saints used a strong defensive effort to overcome a 20-4 first-quarter deficit.

Fountain Valley scored 22 points in the first quarter, but managed only 20 points the remainder of the game against Santa Ana’s man-to-man defense. The Barons made 10 of 13 field goal attempts in building their early lead, but made only seven more shots the remainder of the game.

Santa Ana (8-4) took its first lead, 38-37, with 6:31 remaining in the fourth quarter and then held Fountain Valley without a field goal until only 15 seconds remained. Jeff Stewart led the Saints with 18 points.

“What ticked me off is that we came out flat-footed, and we’re not big enough to play that way,” Saints Coach Greg Coombs said. “Another good defensive effort saved us.”

Fountain Valley Coach Dave Brown, bidding for his 299th career victory, said: “They did some good things defensively and we went ice cold.”

Capistrano Valley 70, Lakewood 67 (OT)--The Cougars overcame an eight-point deficit in the final 46 seconds of regulation play to win when guard Scott McCullough made two free throws with seven seconds left in overtime.

Charles Lockard scored three baskets in the final 24 seconds of regulation, including a layup at the buzzer that tied the score at 61-61. Lockard drove the length of the court for the game-tying shot.

The Cougars fell behind, 63-61, in overtime, but McCullough made a three-point play to give Capistrano Valley (7-4) the lead for good.

In consolation play:

Saddleback 77, El Modena 47--The Roadrunners rebounded from a 23-point loss in the first round to win their second game. Forward Gylan Dottin led all scorers with 22 points and sophomore teammate Craig Marshall added 17.

Santa Clara 50, Fullerton 45--Guard Fred Santana scored 16 points, including six in the second quarter when the Saints outscored Fullerton, 18-8. The Indians (4-5) were led by guard Greg Wilber, who had 18 points.

Newport Harbor 58, Dana Hills 48--John Alstrom scored 9 of his 19 points in the last quarter as the Sailors broke a 40-40 tie. Dave Cmelak scored 19 points for the Dolphins.

Mater Dei 72, Westminster 44--The Monarchs outscored Westminster, 20-6, in the final six minutes of the first half to take a commanding lead to coast to their eighth straight victory.

Center LeRon Ellis scored 17 points, had 10 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Guard Mike Hopkins added 16 points, hitting 7 of 12 shots. Mater Dei will play Capistrano Valley in the semifinals at 8:30 on Monday night.