CENTURY LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Foothill Beats Canyon for a Victory Worth Shouting About

Reamer’s Screamers, Foothill High School’s raucous and rowdy rooting section, weren’t able to make the trip to Canyon Friday night.

But that didn’t mean that the Canyon gym fell silent, either.

Foothill Coach Jim Reames probably was the most hoarse man in the gym after watching his team defeat Canyon, 68-54.

The victory clinched the Century League championship for Foothill, which improved to 16-6 overall and 8-0 in league.

“It’s over,” Reames said. “I wanted this one bad.”

Reamer’s Screamers were told to leave their face paint and basketball-hoop hats behind by the Foothill administration.

They missed a dominating performance by Foothill’s Fred Amos, a 6-foot-6 power forward, who muscled his way to 23 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out with 19 seconds left.

Nick Konopisos, Foothill’s 6-7 center, scored 17 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter as Foothill put the game out of reach.

“We talked about staying out of foul trouble,” said Reames, who team was tied with Canyon, 23-23, at halftime. “We also needed to help out defensively in the middle on Canyon’s big guys.”

The big guy in question was Canyon center Kevin Wilborn, who scored 22 despite a defense that sagged on him most of the night. Canyon guard Abdi Barkhordar added 12.

Canyon outscored Foothill, 14-10, in the first quarter behind six points by Barkhordar. Canyon kept the score down in the first half with a spread offense against Foothill’s zone.

Canyon (12-10, 5-3 in league) is tied for second place with Santa Ana. Foothill, which has won eight in a row, owns a three-game lead with two to play.

“It’s nice to see us play our best basketball as we head toward the playoffs,” said Reames.

In another league game:

El Modena 79, Santa Ana Valley 51--Senior Center Jeff Leedom scored a career-high 36 points and had 12 rebounds for El Modena (12-10, 4-4). Gregg Gottlieb added 14 points and Tom Hetzel had 12 for El Modena. Rome Manson scored 12 points for Santa Ana Valley (4-14, 1-7).