ANAHEIM — The Savanna boys basketball team left no doubt as to which team would be the final Orange League champion.
The Rebels used a second-half surge to turn a slim lead into a double-digit victory over rival Western 59-48 on Tuesday night at Savanna High.
Savanna (16-9, 9-0) was led by James Lee who scored a team-high 17 points. Senior Dontey Henderson had 10 points and five assists, and Brandon Ellis added nine points off the bench.
“Honestly, it does feel amazing,” Rebels coach Ralph Flores said. “I give all credit to those boys because of their hard work, their dedication. From day one that I stepped in, they knew what it was going to take and I’m just proud that their work came to fruition.”
Flores, who is in his first season as the program’s varsity head coach, has been at Savanna for nine years and helped lead the Rebels to their first league championship since 2018.
The Rebels also got big minutes from Eliseo Camez, who scored 11 points, and Dontey’s brother, sophomore Paul Henderson (eight points).
Dontey Henderson, who came into the game averaging nearly 20 points per game, was able to impact the game in other ways, using excellent court vision and precise passing.
Henderson constantly set his teammates up for easy buckets.
“Dontey is a leader on the court, and off the court he’s a man that shows extreme work ethic,” Flores said. “He leads and helps his teammates, from the freshman all the way up. He’s an excellent leader and as much as I’m excited to see his new chapter, I’m sad to see him leave.”
The Rebels were up by four points at halftime and were able to get a huge lift from Ellis, who scored seven points in the third quarter.
“That was the plan in the second half, to get his usage rating up. He needed to be a little more aggressive because we go based off him, and he did an amazing job,” Flores said of Ellis.
Lee added seven more points in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
“At the end of the day, it’s his vision, it’s his hustle and his basketball IQ,” Flores said about Lee. “That’s one of the things that is most underrated about him, his basketball IQ. That guy doesn’t need the ball to score, he just does anything we need him to do.”
Josh Shepperson scored a game-high 20 points for the Pioneers (13-14, 7-2) while sophomore guard Shaan Rana added 17 points.
Western came into the game on a four-game winning streak. Their last loss had been to Savanna 72-71 in double overtime.
Savanna will go in the record book as the last champion in the Orange League, as Orange County schools will be placed in new leagues with different names starting next school year.