Orange Tournament : Saddleback to Meet Capistrano Valley in Search of First Major Title

Saddleback High School will be trying for the first major basketball tournament championship in the school’s 20-year history at 8:30 tonight when the Roadrunners meet Capistrano Valley in the title game of the 23rd Orange Holiday tournament in Chapman College’s Hutton Sports Center.

The Roadrunners qualified for the final game with a 54-45 victory over Dominguez Tuesday night in the semifinals. Capistrano Valley guard Charles Lockard scored six points in the final 56 seconds in the Cougars’ 58-50 semifinal victory over Lakewood.

Saddleback and Capistrano Valley will be meeting for the second time in 10 days. Saddleback won the first game, 48-42, in the fifth-place game of the Irvine World News Tournament. That started the Roadrunners (11-2) on a four-game winning streak.

The Roadrunners’ latest victory featured some fine man-to-man defense and the steady play of forward Gylan Dottin and guard Craig Marshall. Dominguez (6-5) made only 17 of 41 attempts against the Roadrunners and led only once, 22-21, late in the second quarter.

Dottin then started a six-point spurt with a three-point play, and the Roadrunners took a 27-22 halftime lead. Dottin led all scorers with 18 points.

“That little run just before halftime made the difference,” said Pat Quinn, Saddleback coach. “They had the momentum, and then Gylan got us going again.”

Dominguez trailed, 21-12, but the Dons scored 10 consecutive points by using a full-court press.

Marshall sealed the victory in the fourth quarter by scoring two baskets and two free throws to finish with 14 points.

In other tournament games:

Capistrano Valley 58, Lakewood 50--Forward Randy Stark, making his first start of the season, scored 12 points and had 9 rebounds as the Cougars improved to 10-4.

Fountain Valley 66, Fullerton 65 (OT)--Baron guard Tom Weaver made a three-point shot with no time remaining to send the game into overtime, then made a free throw with 39 seconds left to win the game. Fullerton (7-4) had a four-point lead with 15 seconds remaining in regulation, but Fountain Valley (9-1) rallied on three-point shots by Jim Borgquist and Weaver.

Santa Clara 58, Kennedy 49--The Irish (3-6) were outscored, 17-6, in the last quarter, when they made only 1 of 8 field goal attempts and committed 6 turnovers. Santa Clara (6-6) meets Fountain Valley for fifth at 5:10 today.

Westminster 63, Marina 62--Guard Eric Kutas made six three-point shots, including one with 1:03 remaining to give Westminster (5-6) the victory over league-rival Marina (11-3). Kutas finished with 22 points.

El Modena 63, Orange Lutheran 60--Forward Gaylord Greene’s final shot was disallowed when he charged into an opponent, and then a technical on the Orange Lutheran bench resulted in El Modena’s victory. Greene’s basket would have given Orange Lutheran a 62-61 lead with two seconds remaining.