Fountain Valley starts fast and captures win over Santa Ana in opening round of tourney

Fountain Valley players including leading scorer Parker Rodriguez (No. 4) and No. 33 Troy Leach exchange handshakes with Santa Ana, led by No. 31 Jack Rivera. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Fountain Valley High School’s boys basketball team took charge early and went on to defeat Santa Ana 59-44 Tuesday night in the opening round of the Santa Ana Varsity Tournament.

The Barons were led by senior Parker Rodriguez, who had 19 points and made five 3-pointers. Senior Colin Risse added 10 points and junior Aiden Swaner eight points for Fountain Valley.

“It was a good game, Santa Ana is tough and they play really hard,” said the Barons new coach Josh Beaty. “They kind of hung around there with their toughness but overall, we moved the ball and found a way to score some points in the fourth quarter.”

Beaty was expecting a big game from Rodriguez.

“He was great tonight,” Beaty said. “I said in the locker-room, he played like a senior. First game, everyone else is nervous. He’s very calm and comes out and makes a few shots and calms everyone else down.”

Fountain Valley held a 28-15 lead at halftime and led 47-33 going into the fourth quarter.

Fountain Valley was also tough defensively on the Saints leading scorer from last year Jack Rivera, who was held to eight points and fouled out late in the game. Osten Achman was Santa Ana’s leading scorer with 20 points and was the only Santa Ana player in double figures.

“I thought we came out a little bit flat,” said Santa Ana Coach Zach Johnson. “I think we defended pretty well, our best guys didn’t really going today. We have some time to adjust and figure it out, but credit to them, they played a great game. If Jack does not play well, our team does not really have a chance and I think everybody in the county knows that.”

Both teams move on to play Thursday. Fountain Valley will meet San Clemente at 5:30 p.m. and Santa Ana will face University at 4 p.m. at Santa Ana.

Also Tuesday:

San Clemente 76, University 37: The Tritons were led by Will Whidden, who had 16 points, Chase Tolliver, who had 12 and Anthony Russomanno, who had 11. Shervin Moarrefian led University with 12 points.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com