ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Century League : Foothill Picks Up Pace in 2nd Half And Leaves Canyon a Step Behind

Sophomore guard Bill Mazurie had a hot hand in the second half Friday night as Foothill High School handed Canyon a 48-36 loss in Foothill’s gym.

The loss knocked Canyon (4-2, 9-8) out of first place in the Century League. Foothill (5-1, 13-9) won its fifth straight game to remain tied at the top of the standings with Santa Ana.

Foothill avenged a 57-55 overtime loss to Canyon by increasing the tempo in the second half after the teams played at a slow pace in the first half.

Canyon did a good job of dictating the tempo with its deliberate offense, patiently working the ball for high percentage shots. The strategy paid off as the Comanches held a 20-18 halftime lead.

But in the second half, Mazurie made six straight shots mostly from the 15-20-foot range as Foothill turned the game around. Mazurie’s closest shot was a drive to the basket with 6:55 remaining that gave the Knights a 37-29 lead.

“Bill is the best shooter on the team,” said Foothill Coach Jim Reames. “I told everybody before the league started that he was going to be a player.”

Mazurie was making only his fourth start but he played with the poise of a veteran, leading all scorers with 21 points before fouling out with 2:34 to play.

“I told the players at halftime that we had to up the tempo if we wanted to win,” Reames said. “(Greg) Rieber wasn’t hitting in the first half, so we had to try something else.”

Foothill, which made 20 of 36 shots, and missed only five in the second half. While the Knights got hot, Canyon cooled off after halftime. The Comanches made only 7 of 26 shots and were 2 of 7 at the free-throw line in the second half.

“We went to a man-to-man defense in the second half and did a good job,” Reames said. “I thought (Doug) Kopcha did a good job on (David) Jones.”

Jones, the 12th leading scorer in Orange County with a 20.3 point average, had 19 points for Canyon but was shut out in the final quarter. He scored nine points in the first quarter but wasn’t much of a factor the remainder of the game.

Santa Ana 80, Villa Park 46--Junior center Bobby Joyce and senior forward Jeff Stewart combined to keep the Saints tied with Foothill for the league lead while Villa Park remained winless at Santa Ana.

Stewart scored a game-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds as Santa Ana took a 40-21 lead at the half.

Joyce scored 23 points and had a game-high 15 rebounds for the Saints (5-1, 16-6) who had extended the lead to 64-31 after three quarters.

Tom Bray led Villa Park (0-6, 4-14) with 13 points. Santa Ana was playing without forward George Tuioti, who quit the team earlier in the week.

El Modena 71, Santa Ana Valley 69--Adam Coghill made a jump shot from the free-throw line with three seconds remaining to give the Vanguards (2-4, 3-13) the victory at El Modena.

El Modena trailed by nine points entering the fourth quarter, but John DeGree scored 13 points to help bring the Vanguards back. El Modena led, 41-37, at halftime but scored only four points in the third quarter.

Degree led the Vanguards with 28 points. Brett Beale scored 21 points and Jason Vaughan added 16 for Santa Ana Valley (2-4, 5-14).