Santa Ana Valley Proves a Point

Santa Ana Valley has been inconsistent and has been called underachievers. But as the Falcons showed Villa Park on Friday, the road to the Century League title still goes through the Valley.

The Falcons (12-7, 5-0) reinforced that message by throttling the Spartans, 59-43, in a game that wasn’t close. The Falcons bolted to an 18-2 lead in the first quarter and never were threatened by the visiting Spartans, who were taken out of the game by a stifling full-court press and superior athleticism.

Villa Park (14-4, 4-1) had hoped to take control using patience and an inside game built around 7-foot center Eric Chenowith. But early foul trouble and the Spartans’ 24 turnovers essentially made Chenowith, who had 15 points and seven rebounds, a non-factor.

“This was a thorough butt-kicking,” Villa Park Coach Kevin Reynolds groused. “We never got anything going. We got down so far and so fast we were never in the game.”

The Spartans’ downfall started with four turnovers in the first two minutes, and poor shooting made it worse. Villa Park’s only basket was a Chenowith dunk. Otherwise Villa Park missed eight other attempts from two-point range and all six tries from three-point range.

The closest the Spartans came to a run was seven points in the second quarter to close to within 31-15 at the half. But Santa Ana Valley broke out with an 11-2 spurt to start the third quarter to lead, 54-29, going into the fourth quarter.

“The first half went exactly as we hoped,” Falcon Coach Kevin Stipp said. “Eric got in foul trouble early, and they had trouble with the press. In the second half we lost some of our intensity, but maintained what we had.

“That big loss to [Los Angeles] Crenshaw on Monday might have been the one thing we needed. It showed the kids how we have to play--getting up and down the floor, pressuring the ball and getting points off turners.”

Santa Ana Valley forward Ike Harmon had 21 points.

In other Century League games:

Canyon 57, Foothill 40--Ryan Walker scored 17 points to lead Canyon (14-7, 2-3). Matt Higgins scored 23 points for Foothill (5-13, 1-4), which only trailed by six points after three quarters.

Orange 62, El Modena 53--Orange scored on their first eight possessions opening a 17-4 lead in the first quarter. The nine point final margin was the closest El Modena (9-11, 1-4) came to the Panthers all game long.

Brian Krauss scored 16 points for Orange (9-9, 2-3).