HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PREVIEWS : Joyce’s Departure at Santa Ana Should Open Up League Race

The Bobby Joyce Era at Santa Ana High School is finally over, which has given new hope to five basketball coaches in the six-team Century League.

Santa Ana rolled to three consecutive league titles and a 67-17 record with Joyce, a 6-foot 7-inch center, in the lineup. Joyce signed with Nevada Las Vegas last spring, but he opted to play at Riverside City College.

“The league is wide open now that Bobby Joyce is finally gone after playing 900 years at Santa Ana,” joked Steve Sabins, Canyon coach.

“I’m sure nobody cried when Bobby graduated except me,” Santa Ana Coach Greg Coombs said.

Santa Ana advanced to the Southern Section 4-A semifinals last year, but the Saints have only one returning starter and Coombs might start three sophomores.

“We will have the youngest team in Orange County,” Coombs said. “I have five sophomores and two juniors among my top nine players. The team is comparable to our team 3 years ago, although we don’t have a dominant player like Bobby Joyce.”

Foothill, the runner-up to Santa Ana the past 3 seasons, is a slight favorite to win the title of what promises to be a very balanced league.

Although Foothill doesn’t have a returning letterman, Coach Jim Reames inherits a junior varsity team that finished 22-3 and a 6-8 transfer, Jamal Duff, from Antelope Valley.

Duff played on Foothill’s freshman team, moved to Antelope Valley as a sophomore and returned to the school last spring.

Reames said Duff has received 25 recruiting letters from major colleges such as Stanford, USC, UC Santa Barbara and Loyola Marymount after an impressive performance in the Basketball Congress International tournament last summer in Phoenix.

“When Jamal goes up against Oscar Wilson (of Santa Ana), it should be something,” Reames said. “There isn’t a more physically imposing player in the county than those two.”

Foothill, Santa Ana and El Modena figure to stage a tight race for the league title with Canyon and Santa Ana Valley contending for a playoff berth.

Villa Park was the only school discounted in the league race by the league coaches.

“I can see the league champion with three losses and the possibility of a co-championship is good,” Coombs said. “Nobody is going to run away and hide. It’s going to be a fun league, and I’m hoping we’ll be there in the end.”

Here’s a closer look at the Century League:

CANYON--Jerard Bryant, a 6-3 forward and the only returning starter, averaged 5.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last season. Sabins is optimistic with the top players from a 21-2 freshman team and a 17-5 sophomore team joining the varsity.

“We finally had a freshman class last year, and as a result, two sophomores will be on the varsity team,” Sabins said. “There hasn’t been a sophomore on a Canyon varsity team since 1978. It’s difficult to win with first-year seniors,” said Sabins.

Kevin Wilborn, a 6-3 forward, and Abdi Barkhordar, a 5-9 guard, are sophomores who should develop into 3-year starters. Other key personnel include John Hutchinson (6-4 forward), Bryan Van Noy (6-5 center), Tim Uyematsu (5-10 guard) and Brian Bailey (5-11 guard).

Canyon participated in the Valencia and Troy summer tournaments and finished 18-10. Canyon will host its annual tournament Jan. 27-30.

EL MODENA--The Vanguards will be the most improved team in the league with three returning starters--center Robbie Pietsch and forwards Ramsey Rycraw and Jeff Leedom--although the 6-4 Pietsch is the only player on the team with legitimate size.

Pietsch averaged 14.3 points and Rycraw averaged 10.2 points per game last year. The Vanguards posted an 11-4 record last summer, prompting Coach Tim Tivenan to say, “We had a good summer, but then we had a good summer the year before and then had a disappointing season.”

El Modena finished 9-13 last year and won only 1 game in the second round of league play. “I thought we would be playing for the third playoff spot, but we fell apart. I was really disappointed,” Tivenan said.

El Modena will play in the Valencia, La Quinta and Brea-Olinda tournaments.

FOOTHILL--The Knights have good size but no returning lettermen. The team is essentially last year’s junior varsity squad with the addition of Duff.

Foothill played in two leagues and five tournaments over the summer and finished 28-12. Todd Henrotin, a 6-2 guard who is an excellent outside shooter, averaged 25 points per game on the junior varsity team.

Bill Mazurie, the team’s only returning varsity player, transferred to Capistrano Valley last spring. Foothill finished 16-7 last season. “We opened the year at 7-1, and then lost two straight in the Orange tournament and never recovered,” Reames said. “We had some fine individual players, but we never played as a team.”

Dan Paxton, former Orange coach, will serve as Reames’ assistant. Top newcomers include Todd Henrotin (6-2 guard), Mark Wilkinson (6-4 forward), Corey Parker (6-3 guard), Ward Van Pelt (6-0 guard) and Nick Konopisos (6-5 forward).

SANTA ANA--Coombs thinks this is the hardest working and best perimeter shooting team in his 6 seasons at Santa Ana.

“It’s also a smart group,” he said. “I’ve got five sophomores and four of them have grade-point averages of 2.6 or better.” Santa Ana figures to start slowly with Wilson, a 6-3 forward, competing in the football playoffs. Wilson averaged 8 points and 7 rebounds per game as a sophomore and was a member of the varsity as a freshman.

“We’ve told Oscar that he’ll likely be seeing a lot of double coverage, just like Bobby did the past 2 years,” Coombs said.

Mike Zamora, a 6-foot guard, was the team’s sixth man last year but would have started on many teams. Chauncy Woolridge, a 6-3 forward, is the best player among the underclassmen.

SANTA ANA VALLEY--The Falcons finished 14-11 last year and earned a playoff spot with a third-place finish behind Santa Ana and Foothill. Roshawn Lacy, the team’s top scorer and rebounder, has graduated, but the Falcons have some fine athletes returning.

Chuck Steen, a 6-1 guard, is a transfer from Santa Ana who played on the junior varsity team at Santa Ana Valley last season. Joe Kahr, a 6-5 center, did not play last year, but Coach Jeff Bishop said he is one of the most improved players on the team.

“There won’t be anybody in the county who will outwork us,” Bishop said. “We have a group of dedicated, hard-working kids. Our problem is we don’t have a big, dominating player inside, but neither does anyone else in the league.”

The Falcons will play in the Loyola, Marin Catholic and Bosco Tech tournaments outside of the county.

VILLA PARK--The Spartans won only two games last season and were winless in league play.

Villa Park hasn’t had a winning season in 12 years, but Coach Frank Palminteri said the team’s goal is “to reach that magic .500 mark.”

Chris Johnson, a 6-5 center who averaged 10 points and 6 rebounds as a junior, injured his shoulder in Villa Park’s final football game and won’t be able to practice with the team until Dec. 10.

“The team is quicker and faster than last year with more depth,” Palminteri said. “But four of our top nine players are underclassmen.”

Top newcomers include Chris Kirby, a 6-2 guard, Matt Reekstin, a 6-2 forward, and Mark Malo, a 5-11 guard.

CENTURY LEAGUE 1987-88 Overall, League Record in Parenthesis

SCHOOL ‘88-’89 COMMENT Santa Ana (26-4, 10-0) Dominated the league for 3 years with a 67-17 mark Foothill (16-7, 7-3) Favorite with nucleus of talented junior-varsity team Santa Ana Valley (14-11, 6-4) Top athletes, but an unknown commodity El Modena (9-14, 4-6) Figures to be most improved with 3 starters back Canyon (10-14, 3-7) Ever optimistic with some good underclassmen Villa Park (2-20, 0-10) Hasn’t had a winning season in 12 years