Senior forward Luke Ross scored a team-high 18 points to help Sunny Hills snap a three game losing streak and complete a last quarter come from behind victory against Buena Park.
In a tense and tight first quarter both teams had trouble converting shots from the field and free throws.
Early on the Lancers were having trouble getting the ball into the paint which forced them to rely on mid range and three point shots, which they made few of.
The Coyotes were getting to the basket more than their opponents, but weren’t able to score on several offensive possessions due to a combination of effective defense by the Lancers and poor shooting form.
The second quarter saw Buena Park go up by 10 and begin to pull away from the Lancers with an 8-0 run to start the quarter.
Ross responded for the Lancers by scoring four straight points including a slam dunk.
The Lancers defense tightened up after Buena Park’s run and forced the Coyotes to shoot from outside the paint.
By the end of the first half through taking and making shots from the paint and converting from the free throw line Sunny Hills cut the Coyotes lead to two.
Buena park began to build a multi-basket lead once again in the third quarter.
Sophomore guard Cameron Dashiell had a big third quarter for the Coyotes and helped them extend their lead to eight at one point.
Just like in the previous quarter, the Lancers(13-9, 2-2) found a way to keep the game from getting out of reach,
Ross added four more points to his tally and forward Jacob Dibble, who hit a 3-pointer to cut Buena Park’s lead to three in the third, had five of his own in the quarter.
Entering the fourth quarter the Coyotes(18-3, 3-2) had not trailed the whole game, led by five and seemed to have the momentum to close the game out.
The Lancers changed all of that as the game neared its conclusion.
A few minutes into the fourth a basket by Dibble brought the Lancers within one of tying the game.
After one of many key stops in the final quarter the Lancers had the ball again and were looking to take their first lead.
Senior guard Sam Barrera got that chance for the Lancers when a foul in the paint led to a visit to the free throw line.
Barrera subsequently made both free throws, his first points of what turned out to be a big fourth quarter, and put the Lancers up by one.
The Coyotes took back the lead almost Immediately through a basket by Cedric Dashiell III, But two 3-pointers in the span of a minute by the Lancers put them ahead by four in the final five minutes.
Ross’s third dunk of the night extended the Lancers lead to six with little over two minutes remaining.
Buena Park reacted strongly to the game possibly slipping out of their grasp and quickly cut the Lancers lead to one.
As the final moments of the game neared, the Coyotes down by three went to their leading scorer Dashiell for a basket.
Dashiell took the ball to the basket but couldn’t convert a layup that would’ve cut the Lancers lead to one instead on the following play Ross made his final dunk of the night to put Sunny Hill up by five.
Dashiell got the ball once more on the next play and with the clock ticking down chucked a 3-pointer from long range which missed.
Barrera made the final two points of the game from the free throw line to complete a 11 point fourth quarter performance.
“Playing like this coming together to get a big win to put us back in the race for league, it’s a great feeling,” Said senior guard Ryan Shaw, who scored 11 points, and added “as we started to hit more shots and work as a team it kinda just kept flowing, and that’s how we play the best.”
“It was a huge team win for us,” said Ross
The Lancers will look to build on their victory when they take on La Habra High School next Wednesday while the Coyotes will seek to rebound from their loss when they visit Troy High School Wednesday.