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Away team’s Chris Negrete from Segerstrom drives to the basket as Home team’s Jared Villanueva from Santa Ana defends. Negrete scored on a layup. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
Some of the finest high school boys basketball players from the Santa Ana Unified School District were on display Friday night at Godinez High School in the 2023 Santa Ana Prep Showcase.
Senior players from Segerstrom, Godinez and Century High Schools represented the Away team and took on the Home team with seniors from Saddleback, Santa Ana Valley and Santa Ana High Schools.
The non-profit RAYA Foundation, led by Chairman Leon Raya, sponsored the event and when it was all said and done the two teams settled for a 65-65 tie.
Both players and coaches alike seemed to accept Raya’s decision to end the game in a draw, as they all exchanged handshakes at the end and left with smiles on their faces.
“All of these kids played like champions and there was no need to play overtime and risk an injury to anybody,” Raya said.
“It was a fun game, hard played and it was a great experience to get these kids together from different schools and let them play one more high school game,” said the Home team coach Zach Johnson from Santa Ana.
The Away team coach Robert Morgan concurred.
“A lot of these kids know each other and have played against each other since they were very young,” said Morgan, the Godinez High coach. “You may see a tie game in a summer league game, but not usually in an all-star game, but nobody is worried about it. It’s special for these kids and it’s also special for us coaches to work with the other coaches in a non-competitive way.”
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Chris Negrete (Segerstrom) led all scorers with 27 points and Shawn Murray (Segerstrom) added 21 points, including five 3-pointers, for the Home team. The Away team was led by Nick Chavez (Santa Ana) with 18 points. Chavez also drilled five 3-pointers and led the Away team back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth-quarter. Emmanuel Lemus (Santa Ana) scored 13 points and Kevin Nguyen (Santa Ana Valley) added 10 points.
“It was an awesome experience to play with these great players,” said Negrete.
Murray agreed with Negrete.
“It was fun to play against your rivals,” said Murray, who was red hot shooting in the final quarter, scoring 14 points, making four 3-pointers.
Murray drained three 3-pointers in the first 2:22 of the final quarter. His 3-pointer gave the Away team a 52-43 lead with 5:38 remaining. But then Chavez got sizzling hot as he scored the Home teams next nine points. His basket with 3:17 to play propelled the Home team back into the lead 54-53.
The game continued to seesaw over the final minutes. Nyugen’s free throw put the Home team up 65-63 with 11 second left, but Negrete’s bucket tied it at 65-65 with 4.6 seconds remaining. Nguyen then took the inbounds pass and crossed the half-court line and launched a long 3-pointer that hit off the iron as the buzzer sounded to end the game.
Players from both teams expected OT, but Raya came onto the court and called for the game to end. Nobody complained and the game ended in a tie.
“The game got more intense in the final quarter, but in the end everybody learns a life lesson from this experience,” said Lemus, who was also a force on the glass.
Chavez said the game was exciting.
“This game kept me moving; we got behind but we kept playing with confidence,” Chavez said.
After trailing 16-8 after the first-quarter, the Home team rallied and cut the lead to 28-25 at halftime. Both teams made runs in the third-quarter. Alex Neria (Santa Ana) canned a 3-pointer to give the Home team a 35-30 lead at the 4:21 mark of the third-quarter.
In the second part of the quarter, Negrete and Matthew Olvera (Godinez) led the Away teams charge as they combined to score 11 points over the final four-minutes to give the Away team a 43-40 lead after three-quarters and setting the stage for a dramatic finish.
The RAYA Foundation’s mission is to develop youth to be successful by providing positive athletic opportunities, supporting academic achievement and mentoring families. The Foundation provides sports activities and scholarships for Santa Ana youth and on Friday night the large crowd was treated to some very exciting basketball.
—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
