Century League : Peet Rebounds and Scores to Give Orange a 37-36 Victory : Panthers Extend League Lead to Two Games With Win

Senior guard Tom Peet rebounded Dave Roth’s 22-foot, off-balance jump shot from the top of the key and scored with 0:03 showing on the clock and the net result was a 37-36 Century League win for the Panthers.

Foothill (6-3 in league, 15-6 overall) went to a delay game when it took a 26-24 lead with 4:45 to play in the second quarter.

“I told Jim (Reames, Foothill’s coach) at halftime to keep doing it and he said he would,” Orange Coach Ed Graham said.

Though the crowd might have preferred to see a little more action--the Orange fans even grew bored of chanting “Boring! . . . Boring! . . . Boring!”--Graham was hardly upset by the ploy.

“We have no quickness to match theirs,” he said, “so as long as we were within five or six points, we weren’t going to come out (of the zone defense) until about four minutes to play.”

Foothill’s held the ball against Orange’s zone in an effort to draw the Panthers into a man defense. Then, the Knights could take advantage of their superior quickness to work the ball inside.

After all, the Knights had been limited to just one shot per possession because of the Panthers’ rebounding advantage for the first 1 1/2 quarters.

And their shots usually came from beyond 17 feet because Roth, a 6-foot 5- inch forward and Eric Hendry, a 6-6 center, discouraged any Knight from driving toward the basket.

By going to a four-corner offense, Foothill hoped to open up the offense.

Century League League Overall School W L W L Orange 8 1 14 6 Santa Ana 7 2 12 7 Foothill 6 3 15 6 El Modena 6 3 12 6 Santa Ana Valley 5 4 6 10 Canyon 3 6 8 11 Tustin 1 8 6 14 Villa Park 0 9 4 14

The Panthers, however, refused to yield, and instead waited for an opportunity to overpower the Knights.

The Panthers’ patience paid off as Foothill was unable to execute the stall perfectly. Knight turnovers contributed greatly to the Panthers’ comeback.

With 45 seconds to play, Orange (8-1 and 14-6) had crept to within one point. Hendry stole an inbound pass, went the length of the court and dunked to put the Panthers ahead, 35-34.

Foothill’s Jud Dutrisac followed that with two free throws with 15 seconds to play, but Peet’s rebound and score gave Orange the victory.

ORANGE (37)--Hendry 8, McCoy 6, Peet 15, Roth 6, Bertrand 0.

FOOTHILL (36)--Dutrisac 14, Myers 10, Laird 4, Gore 8, Parker 0.