No. 10 Santa Ana Beats No. 2 Cerritos

Santa Ana, with two starters sidelined by illness and another playing despite a dislocated toe, buried defending state champion Cerritos, 93-74, in a nonconference men’s basketball game Thursday.

Santa Ana, ranked 10th in Southern California, got strong efforts from several players, led by freshman forward Zac Fray.

Fray scored his team’s first eight points and finished with a game-high 25 against the No. 2 team in Southern California. Fray was 11 of 13 from the field, including a thundering dunk and a slick reverse move under the basket that fooled two defenders.

Fray was also a force on the boards with 17 rebounds.

Guard Mark Wulfemeyer was out sick and forward Mark Watson had appendicitis, but Fray said their absence didn’t especially motivate him.

“We just didn’t want to lose two in a row,” he said. Santa Ana was coming off an 84-70 loss to Santa Monica Saturday in the title game of the Pasadena tournament.

Santa Ana sophomore forward Greg Gray dislocated a toe in the loss to Santa Monica but was able to play through the soreness against Cerritos (12-3) and scored 19 points, 14 in the second half.

Freshman guard Herbert Gracia, making his second start of the season, also had a strong second half for Santa Ana (12-2).

He scored 15, all after halftime, and also had seven assists and four steals. On successive possessions he had a basket, a steal that led to a three-pointer, and then a steal and a basket.

Gracia’s run came after Cerritos scored seven consecutive points to close to 50-41 with 16 minutes 45 seconds to play.

Freshman forward Joe Nichols helped Santa Ana get off to a strong start with 13 of his 15 points in the first half.

Guard Brian Chambers had four three-pointers and finished with 16 points, six steals and five assists.

“When teams want to play together and like each other, it makes a difference,” Santa Ana Coach Ray Rodriguez said.