ORANGE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Western Finally Gets Ball and Does an Inside Job on Valencia

Western High School proved Friday night that you can only play keep-away against it for just so long.

A smaller Valencia team tried to deny the visiting Pioneers the basketball by passing, passing and passing--and not shooting.

But once the shots finally started to fall, Western was doing the scoring on its way to a 68-44 Orange League victory.

“I guess they figured they couldn’t play at regular tempo with us up and down the floor,” Western Coach Greg Hoffman said. “Since we were bigger, they decided to run us around for a while instead of running with us.”

The strategy worked, up to a point. Valencia let almost two minutes run off the clock before guard Richard Tibbie finally sank a short jumper. Valencia even led, 8-7, late in the first quarter.

Western (14-5 overall, 5-1 in the league) held only a three-point lead early in the second quarter, but then the Pioneers went on a 10-point run. Western went on to outscore Valencia, 21-13, in the quarter and lead at the half, 32-21.

From then on, the Pioneers remained inside to do the bulk of their damage. Western, which shot 53% for the game, attempted only nine shots from beyond 15 feet all night.

Western guard Sam Sabbara was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points, including three three-pointers. Sabbara also had six rebounds and six assists.

The Pioneers outrebounded Valencia, 23-15. Western’s dominance in the key resulted in 18 Valencia turnovers and 10 points each for post players Robbie Shelton and Nurishi Stevenson. Guard Tom Barraza added 13 points for the Pioneers.

Despite the one-sided victory, Hoffman said he wasn’t satisfied with his team’s effort.

“It was an ugly game,” he said. “I’m glad to get out of Valencia with a win. We weren’t in sync. We struggled because Valencia did a good job changing defenses on us.”

Guard Jason Bae scored 14 points for Valencia (8-13, 2-4). Tibbie added 13 points for the Tigers, but Valencia’s tallest player, 6-foot-2 center Adolfo Gomez, was limited to five points.