Prep Basketball : Century League Roundup : Santa Ana’s Surprise Star Comes Through in Clutch

The final play in Santa Ana High School’s last-second 64-62 victory over rival Santa Ana Valley Friday went nearly as designed, but the wrong player made the winning shot.

Billie Johnson, a reserve guard, appeared to be just as stunned as Santa Ana Valley when he made a 17-foot jump shot with 1 second remaining that moved Santa Ana (14-5, 2-1) into a first-place tie with Santa Ana Valley and El Modena in the Century League.

The designated game-winner was supposed to be Chauncy Woolridge, Santa Ana’s talented 6-foot 5-inch sophomore. A screen was set near the top of the key, and Johnson was all set to pass to Woolridge with a couple of seconds remaining and the score tied, 62-62.

Instead, Johnson found the passing lane full with two defenders covering Woolridge, so he dribbled a couple of feet to his left and launched the shot that hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded.

“Give Billie the credit, he saw that the play wasn’t going to develop and took it upon himself to go ahead and take the shot,” said Greg Coombs, Santa Ana coach. “It was a heads-up play.”

Santa Ana Valley (10-6, 2-1) had gained the momentum in an emotional game when Brian Singleton made a pair of 3-point shots and guard Chuck Steen hit a baseline jump shot in the final 1:34 of play that tied the score, 62-62.

“I thought we were going to win the game,” said Jeff Bishop, Santa Ana Valley coach. “What can I say?”

Bishop did have something to say about the disparity in fouls called on the teams. Santa Ana Valley was assessed 23 team fouls; Santa Ana had 9. Santa Ana didn’t commit its first foul in the second half until 2:15 remained in the fourth quarter.

“We play an aggressive, full-court pressure style of basketball, and that was taken away tonight by the officiating,” Bishop said.

Still, Santa Ana managed to make only 6 of 15 free throws in the second half and 3-point specialist Mike Zamora never connected on his favorite shot despite scoring a game-high 22 points.

“I can’t complain about the free throws,” Coombs said. “In this gym with three sophomores out there, you can never feel comfortable.”

Santa Ana Valley was vying for its first victory over Santa Ana since 1981, the last time the Falcons have won a league title. Guard Chuck Steen led Santa Ana Valley with 22 points and teammate Brian Singleton added 17 points.

Despite the loss, Santa Ana Valley showed it’s ready to play with the league’s best teams in Bishop’s third year. It wasn’t always that way.

“I can still remember my first day of practice here,” Bishop said. “It was time to start and only three players had showed up. Finally, about 45 minutes later, they showed up.

“I asked one of them where they’d been, and he told me, ‘Chill out, coach. We’ll practice, just chill out.’ ”

El Modena 67, Foothill 56--Robbie Pietsch scored 28 points--including 14 in the second quarter--and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead El Modena (13-5, 2-1) at Foothill.

El Modena opened a 15-9 lead in the first quarter, and led 33-21 at halftime. Foothill (9-8, 1-2) rallied to pull within 6 points in the last quarter. Todd Henrotin scored 18 points and teammate Greg Gottlieb 15 points, including 3 3-point shots in the first quarter.

Canyon 60, Villa Park 41--John Hutchinson scored 15 points and Abdi Barkhordar added 14 points to lead to give Canyon (11-7, 1-2) its first league victory. Chris Johnson scored 11 points for Villa Park (9-8, 1-2).