After a slow start, Century takes control and defeats Anaheim 40-22 to stay in first place

Century was led Thursday night by (from left) Rodrigo Ramirez, Eduardo Sorto, Damian Martinez and Tyler Thomas. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Century’s boys basketball team is out to win its third consecutive Orange League title and Thursday night, the Centurions took another early step toward that goal.

After a slow start, the Centurions got on track in the second quarter and went on to defeat Anaheim 40-22 at Century.

Century is 11-8 overall, 2-0 atop the league and is the only squad in the league with a winning record.

“Anaheim came out and was ready to play,” said Century Coach Andres Hernandez. “Our guys came out a little lethargic. We thought maybe we were just going to roll the balls out and win. Give Anaheim High School all the credit in the world for coming out and competing.

“In the second half, we made some adjustments. Our guys didn’t want to get embarrassed and they played a little bit better. We didn’t play perfect by no means but we made enough plays to win the game today.”

Anaheim (6-12, 1-1) led 6-4 after one quarter but in the second quarter, Century got going, outscoring the Colonists 11-4 to take a 15-10 halftime lead.

In the third quarter Century guard Tyler Thomas had the hot hand, making four 3-pointers to help the Centurions extend their lead to 34-16 after three quarters.

Thomas wound up with a team high 16 points.

“He’s a streaky shooter and we’ve known that this kid can really shoot the ball,” Hernandez said. “Today he was feeling it and he was on thankfully, we needed every single one of those 3-point shots from him especially in that third quarter to kind of open up the game a little bit more for us.”

Century also got strong efforts from Eduardo Sorto (12 points), Damian Martinez (seven points, nine rebounds) and Rodrigo Ramirez (five points, seven rebounds).

Anaheim was led by Joshua Bolanos and Henry Pichardo who had six points each.

The game started at 5:30 p.m. and during league play, the second games of the week will be held on Thursdays which a Century athletic official said is because of a referee shortage in Orange County.

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