THE PREPS : Orange League Basketball : Savanna Beats Brea-Olinda to Clinch Title

The Savanna High School basketball program has gone through hard times the last two seasons, posting a combined 12-30 record.

But Friday night in front of 650 at Savanna, past failures were forgotten as the Rebels clinched the Orange League title with a 76-53 victory over Brea-Olinda.

Eric Shinkle, the Rebels’ 6-foot 9-inch center, scored 22 points as Savanna (20-3 overall, 8-0 in league play) put the game away in the second quarter with a 15-8 run.

Trailing 34-19 at halftime, Brea-Olinda (12-10, 5-3) cut the lead to 10, 48-38, on Keith Walker’s basket midway through the third quarter. But Shinkle and backup center Tim Tillman helped ignite an 8-2 Rebel run to put the game out of reach.

“We overpowered them inside and played smart defense,” said Tom Gregory, Savanna coach. “That was the key to the game.”

Brea-Olinda was led by Walker and Rodney Stewart, who each scored 12 points.

Rich Kemple and Justin Paule each scored 11 and Tillman added 10 for Savanna.

Western 70, Anaheim 65--Junior guard Marcus Mitchell scored a game-high 37 points, but Anaheim lost at home. Mitchell was 13 of 25 from the field and 11 of 15 from the line. Senior center Chris Bowen helped to offset Mitchell’s efforts with 27 points for Western (4-4, 13-7).

Valencia 58, Magnolia 47--Bernie James’ 23 points for Valencia offset a 26-point effort by Orange County’s leading scorer, Mike Goff of Magnolia.