FULLERTON – Sonora junior Lucas Everett didn’t have many open looks during the regulation portion of a Freeway League boys basketball game against Troy on Friday night.
In fact, until the overtime period, he had made one basket.
He saved his best for the extra period, scoring a pair of important baskets, including the game-clinching 3-pointer.
With less than a minute left, Everett found himself open in front of the Sonora bench. He could have decided to run some time off the clock, but shooters are going to shoot.
“I was debating it during the possession,” he said. “I decided to just let it go.”
He took aim, fired and nailed the 3-pointer that gave eighth-ranked Sonora a five point lead and eventually a 67-62 overtime victory at Troy.
“If he’s open and set, he’s got to shoot it,” Sonora coach Mike Murphy said of Everett. “That’s as good as a layup. He’s a phenomenal shooter when he’s open.”
The game went into overtime tied, 59-59.
Kevin Marlow gave Sonora (19-3, 3-1) the lead with a layup and Everett followed with a jumper from the free-throw line that he banked in for a 63-59 lead.
After a basket from Troy’s Jared Reyes, the teams traded missed shots and turnovers until Everett knocked home the open three.
“There’s so much emotion and the crowd is so loud and we can’t communicate with them, so they have to be able to perform on their own,” Murphy said. “In the overtime, I thought we handled the pressure really well. It was a fun game. For a long time we weren’t very good. They were the better team for most of that game.”
Troy (10-10, 3-1) led for the majority of regulation, thanks to the play of junior Alec Sinek. Sinek scored 16 of his 23 points in the third quarter.
The Warriors led by five at halftime and by seven in the third quarter. Late in the fourth, Troy took a 59-56 lead after a pair of free throws by Reyes.
Sonora forced overtime on a three-point play from Marlow, who led the Raiders with 26 points.
“We knew they would come back and make some shots,” Troy coach Aaron Mason said.
“The five-point lead at half, we felt it could have been eight or nine point lead. When they chipped away – that was those couple of possessions I thought we made a couple of key turnovers, and feeding off the emotion, we tried to score too early and that’s where Sonora’s experience showed and our youth.
“I thought we were past that with some of the close games we’ve had, but games like this it is that one possession.”
The teams meet again at Sonora on Feb. 7.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@scng.com