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Jorden Embry (right) and Ben Devries were the leading scorers for Calvary Chapel Tuesday night. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Calvary Chapel High School’s boys basketball team took its play up a couple notches Tuesday night in the Orange Coast League opener against Santa Ana.
The Eagles jumped to an early lead and never looked back defeating Santa Ana 81-64 at Santa Ana. Calvary Chapel Coach James Larson said the first half was his team’s best half of the season.
“We set the tone defensively, that was the biggest thing for us because we’ve been struggling a little bit defensively, then we had a good third quarter,” Larson said.
“We’re a young team so sometimes at halftime, we go a little flat. We came out really strong in the third quarter, we found another level that we’re trying to find in the second half of a game especially in league because Zach (Coach Johnson) does such a great job at Santa Ana, they’re so well coached.
“We knew with Jack (Santa Ana’s Rivera) out there, if we didn’t turn it up another level, he wound find another level. It was a good game for our young guys to learn.”
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Calvary Chapel (7-6, 1-0) led by six after the first quarter and 46-22 at halftime and then moved out to a 65-43 lead after three quarters.
The Eagles were led by junior forward Jorden Embry, who had 32 points, 18 in the first half. Ben Devries added 15 points, Carson Franklin 10 points and Isaiah Guerra nine points.
“He’s starting to find it, he averaged 25 a game last week,” Larson said. “He’s starting to find that next level as a junior and realize how good he is and our guys are starting to realize he is our go-to guy. He’s hard to guard and Carson, our big center is passing out of the post well, he’s had a couple games where he’s had seven assists, so he’s really passing out of the post and being unselfish, and he can score himself.
“Ben Devries just gets up and down, he’s an offensive rebounder and he’s learning how to be the guard, he’s always been a center, he’s growing into it and starting to learn how to drive and get downhill, you can see how bouncy he is, he gets around that rim and he’s a threat. He’s doing a great job and he did a great job on Jack tonight.
“You’re not going to stop Jack but he slowed him down and that’s all we had to do is slow him down a little bit.”
Rivera scored 21 points, but was held to seven points in the second half. He fouled out in the fourth quarter. Osten Achmad led the Saints (4-6, 0-1) with 22 points but no other Santa Ana player scored in double figures.
“It was a tough game, they’re a really good team, we didn’t play well, partially on them, coach does a great job, we will try and bounce back,” Johnson said. “We will do our best, we’re just going to work hard and get better every day.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
