LA HABRA — The Sonora boys basketball team needed to be on point in all facets of its game to have a chance to defeat first-place El Dorado in a key Freeway League game Tuesday night at Sonora High School.
Sonora worked hard all week in preparation for the game and it showed on both ends of the court, as the Raiders defeated the Golden Hawks, 74-59, and clinched second place in the league standings.
The Raiders snapped El Dorado’s seven-game winning streak and handed the Golden Hawks their first league loss of the season.
With one league game remaining, the Raiders (19-8, 5-2) have a chance to finish in a tie for first with the Golden Hawks (22-3, 6-1), who had already clinched at least a share of first coming into the contest.
For that to happen, Sonora needs to defeat Sunny Hills (0-6, 8-18) on Friday and needs Yorba Linda (11-3, 3-3) to defeat El Dorado on Feb. 3.
“It was one of our best wins of the year,” Sonora coach Mike Murphy said. “They beat us last time pretty easily, especially in the second half. We just knew we had to guard them. They run really good offense. They’re really hard to guard. They’re really long and they rebound really well and that was another one of our concerns, trying to keep them off the glass.”
Sonora finished with 33 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end.
Tyler Holmquist led the Raiders with 10 rebounds along with eight assists.
Jayden Barnes got the Raiders off to a fast start, scoring nine of his game-high 26 points in the first quarter.
Barnes also scored seven of the Raiders’ first nine points in the third quarter.
“I think losing the first time around, it kind of lit a big fire under us,” Barnes said. “I think the first time around, I didn’t have the game I wanted to have. So, coming back, I just wanted to come out and make a statement.”
Luca Pirona scored 18 points for the Raiders.
Pirona’s basket off of a steal by Holmquist gave the Raiders a 42-32 lead in the third quarter.
The junior forward also scored eight in the fourth, including a basket to put the Raiders ahead, 59-49 with five minutes remaining.
“So, the big thing for us was winning this game,” Pirona said. “For us to win the league, we needed to get this game, so this is a big one for us. I think we came out with a lot of energy. Our coaches prepared us well.”
The Raiders led from the first basket of the game.
El Dorado got to within three points at halftime and got within three again midway through the third quarter when the Raiders went on a 7-0 run to build the lead back up to double digits.
The Golden Hawks never got closer than eight in the final quarter.