FULLERTON — With less than 90 seconds left and Sonora clinging to a two-point lead, most in attendance at Sunny Hills High assumed that Sonora guard Josh Rodriguez would be the one to take the big shot.
Instead, the senior-led Raiders went to the youngest player on the floor – sophomore Kevin Marlow.
Marlow caught the pass from Christian Rhodes and knocked down the jumper to give Sonora a four-point lead, and the No. 3 Raiders held off the Lancers for a 58-51 Freeway League win on Friday night.
“Our last two possessions were great,” Sonora coach Mike Murphy said. “It was one of the first times we executed our offense, and Kevin Marlow hit a really big jumper for us.”
Marlow came through late for Sonora (19-3, 6-0) , but it was Rodriguez and Rhodes who carried the Raiders for most of the night. After being forced to sit for most of the first half with foul trouble, Rodriguez shot 5-for-6 in the second half and finished with 23 points.
Rhodes was tasked with creating much of the offense early on and finished with 19 points.
“It just shows you how good Christian is,” Murphy said. “He stepped up and had a huge game tonight. For Josh, he does that every game. I don’t know if there are two better guards on any one team, for a public school, than the two that we’ve got.”
The Lancers’ Tim Ahn also got into foul trouble and had to sit for most of the second quarter. Ahn scored 21 second-half points to keep Sunny Hills (11-11, 1-5) in the game, but Sonora was able to stifle a last-minute rally.
The win was Sonora’s 21st consecutive league victory. The Raiders’ last Freeway League loss came at Sunny Hills over two years ago, a fact that was not ignored in the Sonora locker room.
“We remember that,” Murphy said of the loss. “We know how hard it is to play here. League [play] is so much different…the crowds are huge, the atmosphere is just a lot different. We were really fortunate to get out of here with a win.”
