BUENA PARK – Sonora’s quest for a fourth consecutive Freeway League championship got quite a boost Wednesday.
The Raiders beat league-leading Buena Park, 60-51, in a boys basketball league game at Buena Park High.
Buena Park lost for the first time in league play but remains in first place, tied with Sunny Hills, with a 4-1 league record. The Coyotes are trying to win their first league championship since the 1991-92 season. Sonora, which has won three straight Freeway titles, is 3-2 in league.
Sonora coach Mike Murphy liked the way his team, which won a CIF-Southern Section championship last year, played in the second half.
“We don’t want to give it up yet,” Murphy said. “We’ve still got five league games to go.”
The Raiders (13-9 overall) made a second-half comeback using their pressing and trapping to create turnovers and fastbreak baskets.
For Buena Park, everything that could go wrong did go wrong in the second half.
The Coyotes (17-5) had a 37-30 lead at the end of the first half in which they made only one turnover and made 14 of 21 shots. In the second half, they committed 10 turnovers and were 6 for 25 from the floor.
Foul trouble sent many of their starters to the bench, including Cameron Dashiell, among Orange County’s better freshmen. He fouled out midway through the fourth quarter.
Sonora 6-foot-5 junior forward Austin Carter, who scored 14 points with 17 rebounds, gave credit to Murphy for making the change to the trap in the second half.
“’Murph said when we pressured them last year, that’s how we beat them,” Carter said. “And if we pressured them again, we could stop them again right here.”
Sonora had trouble stopping Buena Park junior guard Rocky Watkins, who scored 24 points including five 3-pointers.
The Raiders took their first lead late in the third quarter. Buena Park regained the lead and took a 45-44 advantage into the final quarter.
Sonora senior forward Steven Riley made two quick baskets to start the quarter and junior guard Sean Murphy’s back-to-back 3-pointers turned a five-point lead into an 11-point lead.
Kevin Marlow scored 14 points and Matt Schmidt scored 12 points with three 3-pointers for Sonora. Dashiell finished with 10 points.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
