ORANGE LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Brea Defense Shuts Down Western

It was difficult to imagine the Western High School boys’ basketball team generating enough offense to beat anyone Wednesday night. Brea-Olinda had no trouble pinning a 42-28 Orange League loss on the Pioneers.

Only five days ago, Western was impressive in a 75-71 overtime victory over Savanna to gain a tie for first place with Brea in the six-team league. But the Pioneers suffered through an offensive hangover against Brea, making only nine of 39 shots and turning the ball over 21 times.

At one point, Brea (8-10, 3-0) outscored Western, 18-0, to take a 25-10 lead midway through the third quarter and the closest the Pioneers could get was five points, 27-22, in the fourth quarter.

If not for guard Chris Jackson’s 21 points, Western would have had little to show for 32 minutes of work against Brea’s zone defense. Jackson had four three-point shots, including one with 5:47 remaining that cut Brea’s lead to 27-22.

But Brea put together a 15-6 scoring spurt that finished off Western (11-5, 2-1) and gave the Wildcats sole possession of first place. Afterward, Brea Coach Phil Henderson praised his team for holding up under Western’s defensive pressure.

“Western gambled defensively and we took advantage by making some layups in the end,” Henderson said. “I thought we took advantage of our height. Our rebounding strength and zone defense was the difference.

“Western usually scores a lot of points with its defense creating turnovers. Tonight, (point guard) Gilbert Arriola handled the ball well and wasn’t effected by their pressure.”

Western Coach Greg Hoffman saw the loss another way.

“It was our worst night of the year on the biggest night of the year for us,” he said. “It would be easy to say this loss was a hangover from Savanna. But Brea wanted it more than us, and I don’t know why. We simply weren’t here tonight.”

Guard Scott Hole led Brea with nine points despite being shut out from the field in the first half. Teammate Jason Celmer added eight points and nine rebounds.

In other league games:

Savanna 49, Valencia 47--Tobie Priest made the game-winning basket at the buzzer for Savanna (11-6, 2-1). Forward Marlon Watson had 11 rebounds for the Rebels.

Anaheim 63, Magnolia 61--Oscar Gomez scored 30 points and stole a pass at the end of the game to give Anaheim (4-13, 1-2) the victory.