THE PREPS : Orange Tournament : Saddleback Upsets Top-Seeded Marina : Dottin Scores 14 and Roadrunners Never Surrender Lead to Win, 42-41

On a day of upsets, Saddleback High School surprised top-seeded Marina, 42-41, in the opening round of the 23rd Orange Holiday tournament Saturday in Chapman College’s Hutton Sports Center.

Steve Guild, Marina’s senior forward, missed a 10-foot baseline shot with two seconds remaining, and Saddleback’s Paul O’Hearn got the rebound to secure the victory. Guild missed all eight of his shot attempts in the second half and finished only 3 of 15 from the field. He had eight points.

Saddleback (9-2) never trailed, opening a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Forward Gylan Dottin led all scorers with 14 points, including all six of Saddleback’s points in the last quarter.

The loss marked the second time this season that Marina (9-2) has been defeated in an opening-round game of a tournament after being top-seeded. The Vikings were upset by Estancia, 63-62, in their opening game of the Irvine World News tournament.

Guild’s final shot hit the lip of the rim, nearly trickled into the basket and then bounced off the rim.

“I thought it was going down twice,” said Steve Popovich, Marina coach. “There are about 12 teams in this tournament that are really, really good, but I wonder if the top-seed should have to play somebody as tough as Saddleback in the first round.”

Marina, ranked second in last week’s Orange County Sportswriters’ Assn. poll, wasn’t the only top 10 team knocked into the consolation round. Seventh-ranked Westminster and 10th-ranked Foothill were also upset victims.

Saddleback’s players celebrated the victory as if it had won the tournament championship. Earlier in the season, the Roadrunners lost the title game of the Costa Mesa-Newport tournament to Mater Dei, 58-53, in double overtime and lost in the quarterfinals of the Irvine World News tournament to Woodbridge, 47-46, on a last-second shot.

“The bottom line is that those two losses taught us something,” said Pat Quinn, Saddleback coach. “I thought we showed good patience, unselfishness and good interior passing. Once again, Craig Marshall showed he’s one of the best defensive players in the county.”

Marshall shadowed Guild the entire game and made him work hard for his eight points. Earlier this season, Marshall held Todd Marinovich of Capistrano Valley to eight points and Mike Curtis of Estancia to six points.

In other first-round games:

Fullerton 52, Foothill 49--Center Allan Lewis scored 20 points and had 15 rebounds for the Indians (6-3). Lewis missed only one shot and had nine points in the final quarter. Foothill (6-3) had tied the game, 49-49, on a three-point shot by Rusty Van Cleave and two free throws by Bill Mazurie.

Fountain Valley 81, Orting 54--The Barons (8-0), the the county’s only undefeated team, they romped to a 52-26 lead over visiting Orting of Washington before Coach Dave Brown cleared his bench. Four starters--Jim Borgquist (14 points), Tim Huke (13), Kevin Anderson (10) and Tom Weaver (14)--scored in double figures.

Kennedy 65, Westminster 60--The Keith brothers--Maurice and Michael--combined for 29 points as the Irish won only their third game of the season. Only five days ago, Westminster beat the county’s top-ranked team, Santa Ana, knocking the Saints from the unbeaten ranks. Center Chris Tower scored 22 points for Westminster.

Santa Clara 53, Orange 38--The Saints, a perennial 2-A division power, opened a 46-28 lead through three quarters and coasted to the victory. Arthur Santana, John McGill and Bubba Burrage scored 12 points each for the winners. John Rodriguez accounted for more than half of Orange’s offense, scoring 20 points.

Lakewood 85, Orange Lutheran 64--Cousins Brian and Victor Camper each scored 13 points as the Lancers improved to 8-3. Lakewood secured the victory by outscoring Orange Lutheran, 26-9, in the third quarter. Jason Neben scored 18 points for the Lancers.