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Orange County Prep Review : Santa Ana Rebounds From High Basketball Hopes, Slow Start

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The bad thing about great expectations is that they give a person or team such a long way to fall.

Few Orange County high school basketball teams entered the 1986-87 season with higher expectations than Santa Ana.

The Saints returned four starters from a team that was 20-7 last season and won the Century League championship.

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The Saints had an enviable combination of role players, such as defensive specialists Jeff Stewart and Darrel Bailey, and the outstanding all-round talents of point guard Scooti Lynwood and center Bobby Joyce.

What was more, Lynwood and Joyce, who figure to play at Division I college programs, were only juniors.

But the first month of this season has been anything but a dream for Santa Ana. The Saints have endured a strange and strained month of disappointment, conflict and, ultimately, vindication.

It all started with a slow start. Joyce and Bailey were part of the Santa Ana football team that advanced to the Southern Conference final.

The football team’s good fortune turned into a rough time for the basketball team, which had to bide its time without Joyce and Bailey. That wasn’t so easy. Santa Ana lost a couple of games no one figured it would. The low point may have come when the Saints, a consensus top 10 Orange County team, were defeated by Trabuco Hills, a school playing its first varsity basketball season.

About the same time that Joyce and Bailey returned to the team, Lynwood was gone.

Greg Coombs, Santa Ana coach, dropped Lynwood from the team, citing academic problems and personality conflicts.

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Soon after, Joyce took exception to a referee’s performance during an Irvine Tournament game. That developed into a shouting match that Coombs said Joyce took too far.

Coombs suspended Joyce for five games.

“I really didn’t have to think about it,” Coombs said. “I didn’t consult with anyone else. Bobby had to learn from the incident. You can’t do what he did every time things don’t go the way you want.

“If high school really is a place where kids learn lessons for the future, then I have a responsibility to help teach.”

All of which may get Coombs a congratulatory note from Joe Paterno but left his team without its two best players and wondering what could happen next.

What happened next was just as improbable as the Saints’ fall. They began to win. Coombs started pulling strings, telling his team that the only way to success would have to come through defense.

Without Joyce the Saints used six players to advance to the final of the Orange Tournament, where they played Mater Dei tough before losing in the final quarter.

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“After Bobby was suspended we knew we’d have to pull together and show ourselves and everyone else we could win without him,” said Leo Leon, the Saints’ new starting point guard. “It was either that, or just fall apart.”

Coombs cites Leon’s solid play as one of the reasons for the Saints’ re-emergence, although “he (Coombs) still gets mad at me when I throw passes behind my back,” Leon said.

Bailey and Stewart have had their best seasons defensively.

“Our philosophy has been that we will shut people down defensively for three quarters, and then come the fourth quarter anything can happen,” Coombs said.

What has happened is that the Saints have come through it all with a 9-5 record. Joyce was reinstated Friday after a meeting with Coombs.

“I think if anything, the past month has proved our system here works,” Coombs said. “We’ve had some tough times, but I think we’ve come out of it OK. I think my players have a lot of confidence in what we can do together.”

Look out, Ronco, here comes the Freeway League. The little league that believes more is more.

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More gimmicks, more points, bigger gyms.

This is the league that, along with the Sunset League, will play with the three-point line during league competition. It’s the same league that will hold a postseason tournament to determine playoff berths.

Now the Freeway League presents the Tipoff Classic. An opening-night league get-together Wednesday in Titan Gym on the Cal State Fullerton campus.

Buena Park will play La Habra at 5 p.m., Sonora will play Sunny Hills at 6:30 and Troy will play Fullerton at 8.

“It’s a lot of fun to be part of this league,” said Ed Graham, Troy coach. “Everyone is willing to try new things. We’re not afraid of change. . . . Who knows? It may be time for a multicolored ball.”

Prep Notes

Reservations are being accepted for a tribute to Loara High School football Coach Herb Hill, the dean of Orange County coaches. The dinner is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29, in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel. For further information, contact Aiden Esping at 956-8685. . . . Ethan Horn, whose parents live in Laguna Niguel, was named to Indiana’s All-State second team as a defensive end for Culver Military Academy. Horn, a junior, will be one of the team’s co-captains for the 1987 season.

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