FULLERTON TOURNAMENT : Erratic Western Whips Sonora

Western High School’s talented, but erratic, basketball team demonstrated Wednesday why it is favored to repeat as Orange League champions this season.

The Pioneers, ranked sixth in Orange County, played down to their competition in the first round of the Fullerton tournament. They made mental mistakes, appeared selfish with their shot selection and got into foul trouble.

Yet, even with all these problems, Western still came away with a 72-45 victory over Sonora at Fullerton High School.

“I guess we can blame it on the fact that we haven’t played a game in a week,” Coach Greg Hoffman said.

The Pioneers (6-0) did look out of step for the most part, but they had the talent to shake the dust.

Among the problems:

--Poor shooting from the normally accurate Tom Barraza (eight of 22).

--Barraza and Chris Jackson, the starting guards, went to the bench with four fouls midway through the third quarter.

--Lackadaisical play from center Nurishi Stevenson, who appeared to go through the motions in the first half.

But the bottom line was the Pioneers won, and won impressively.

Barraza may have had an off night, but three of his baskets were three-pointers. He finished with 19 points.

Jackson had foul problems, but his aggressive play forced many of Sonora’s 27 turnovers. Jackson had five steals.

And one half from Stevenson is plenty against a young, inexperienced team such as Sonora (1-5).

Stevenson made eight of nine shots and had 11 rebounds. He had 12 points and eight rebounds in the second half, when the Pioneers outscored the Raiders, 34-17.

Matt Umbarger scored seven points and Steve Kim added six points off the bench in the first half. Their play helped the Pioneers to a 48-28 halftime lead.

In the other first-round game:

Fullerton 74, Garden Grove 69--Chris Hartshorn made two free throws with 10 seconds left to clinch the victory. Bart Hutton had 23 points, including six in an 11-0 run, for Fullerton (3-4).