Freeway League : Troy Wins Its First Title in Six Years by Defeating Buena Park, 58-44

It was the only form of interior decorating a basketball coach would feel responsible for--the bare spot high on the gym wall. But Mike Williams, Troy High School coach, wanted it covered.

And nothing temporary would do.

His team fixed things Friday night by beating Buena Park, their closest Freeway League challengers, 58-44, to give Troy its first league championship banner in six years and the seventh in school history.

Williams intends to savor the sight for a while.

“I told them I wanted an ’86 right up there,” Williams said, pointing at the area of the gym wall in question. “I said, ‘That’s a brick wall and it’s not coming down.’ ”

Ken Bell, Buena Park coach, and his team found space for a similar banner in the Coyote gym last season and they wouldn’t have had any trouble finding room for another, but it wasn’t to be.

Although several of the Coyotes have the intimidating appearances of models for a big-and-tall clothing store, their superior size was only window dressing against Troy’s custom-tailored defense Friday.

The Warriors (8-0, 14-7) not only outshot their taller opponents, but they outrebounded them and prevented the Coyotes (6-2, 10-10) from passing the ball inside. Scott Godwin led the defense by helping stop 6-foot 7-inch Coyote forward Tony Toscano from scoring a point.

“You have to give Troy all the credit,” Bell said. “Their defense did an outstanding job against us. They made us play poorly. We couldn’t get the ball inside.”

The last time the teams met, Troy almost blew a nine-point fourth quarter lead and Buena Park came within a basket of pulling off an upset in the last 30 seconds. Troy escaped with a 40-38 win.

When asked what he hoped to see in the rematch, Williams said, “A bigger margin.”

The Warriors delivered that early with an onslaught of points. Troy was led by Mark Rudometkin, who finished with 18, and Rob Burrer, who finished with 14.

Troy held a 12-10 advantage entering the second quarter, and the Warriors scored the first four baskets for a 20-12 lead. The Coyotes managed just two baskets from the field in the quarter. They made only 7 of 17 shots in the half and committed 11 turnovers to the Warriors’ 7.

In other Freeway League action:

Sunny Hills 47, Sonora 44--The Lancers shot 69% from the floor in the first half and never triled in defeating the Raiders at Sonora.

Sunnny Hills improved its league record to 3-5 and overall record to 5-13. Sonora is 2-6 and 4-14.

Fullerton 91, La Habra 58--Greg Wilbur scored 16 points and Chris Zerga added 14 points and 8 rebounds as the Indians won at La Habra. Fullerton (4-4, 13-9) made 42 of 60 field goal attempts. The Highlanders dropped to 1-7, 1-17.