It may have been Friday the 13th, but that didn’t stop people from attending one of the fiercest rivalries in the Freeway League.  Troy battled back to beat  Sunny Hills 61–55 at home.

Sunny Hills came out strong in the first quarter as sophomore Luke Hosozawa won the opening tip and scored a 3 pointer. Senior guard John Paek followed up with another 3 pointer after diving for a loose ball and the Lancers took an early lead.

The Warrior’s offense struggled as they were bothered by the intense Lancer defense, trailing 11–20 after the first quarter.

Troy (9-8, 2-0) came out of the gates scoring at will in the second quarter with back to back layups by senior swingman Ty Lassiter and junior shooting guard Alec Sinek. Point guard Jared Reyes hit a 3 pointer and center Cole Yauney had an emphatic rejection on Lancer guard Paul Kim to cap a Warrior run that prompted Sunny Hills Coach Joe Ok to call a timeout.

With both teams playing solid defense, the Lancers lead 28–20 at the half.

In the third quarter Troy seemed to get it going on offense, as the Warriors scored 21 points in the period. Sinek scored a layup inside to give Troy its first lead of the game at 41– 40.

In the fourth quarter, neither team could pull away as they traded buckets and back and forth.  After missing a wide open layup, Reyes got a steal by playing the passing lane and made sure he converted the easy 2 points to give Troy a 56–53 lead with 1:45 to go in the game.

With just over a minute to go and the shot clock down to 2 seconds, Lassiter hoisted a 3 pointer from 5 feet behind the line that banked in and seemed to seal the game for the Warriors. Reyes dived for the ball after multiple Sunny Hills misses and closed the game with two free throws.
After being down by 9 in the first quarter and 8 at halftime, Troy coach Aaron Mason told his players to focus on defense and bring more emotion in the game as the Warriors outscored the Lancers 40–27 in the second half.

“This win is everything to us, beating the crosstown rivals. We were looking forward to this game since last summer” said Alec Sinek, who paced Troy with 19 points after struggling in the first half.

Leading scorer for Troy Ty Lassiter, who finished with 21 points, said that “Everybody doubted us, but with this emotional win, it will improve our team morale and mindset and I think we can go 10-0 in league.”

Troy plays at Fullerton against the Indians (4-10) while Sunny Hills plays the Sonora Raiders (17-3) and (1-1) in league on Tuesday 1/17 at 7:30 pm.