ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Freeway League : Morris’ 3-Point Show Leads Sonora

Not too long ago, David Morris was just a 5-foot 11-inch guard who couldn’t shoot on the move.

Wednesday night, as the Freeway League unveiled its new three-point shot in a three-game tipoff in Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym, Morris became the kind of guard who can disrupt defenses, cause general turmoil and win games: He stood still, outside the line, and scored 23 points, hitting 5 of 10 from three-point range, and led Sonora High School to a 49-48 victory over Sunny Hills.

“All along we’ve given that shot to both David and Grayle (Humphrey),” Sonora Coach Paul Bottiaux said. “Unfortunately it hasn’t helped us up to this point. It was just another two-pointer before.”

Just how important it was in this game was very clear: Morris’ three-pointers gave the Raiders (1-0, 5-7) five points they wouldn’t have had otherwise, and they needed every one to win.

When the teams met in a tournament game earlier this season that didn’t use the three-pointer, Sunny Hills (0-1, 8-6) won easily, 69-61.

Wednesday’s game went down to the final seconds.

Sunny Hills, which trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, took the lead, 39-38, when David Chisum made a layup off the break on a pass from Chris Drakos (10 points). Two free throws and a Morris three-pointer gave Sonora a four-point lead, but Sunny Hills came back again, with Brian McCloskey, a 6-5 forward, driving the lane to take the lead, 48-47, with 2:10 remaining.

Geoff Crow (12 points) hit a 15-foot bank shot to give Sonora the lead for good with 1:44 left. Sonora went into a spread, but despite missing three free throws, hung on. Sunny Hills’ Chisum was called for an offensive foul driving to the basket with nine seconds left. Sunny Hills got one last shot after regaining possession after a held ball with two seconds left, but missed.

“They were prepared to play the three-point game,” said Steven White, Sunny Hills coach. “We weren’t.”

Sunny Hills resorted to a box-and-one defense on Morris, which was successful to some extent, as Morris made all but two of his three-pointers in the first quarter. But that defense opened up other possibilities for Sonora.

In other Freeway League games:

Troy 34, Fullerton 31--The three-point rule made for perhaps the most bizarre defensive set in Freeway League history when, leading by three with four seconds remaining, Troy lined its defense up in a semicircle 19-feet, 9-inches from the basket. Fullerton’s Greg Wilber (10 points) managed to put up a shot from outside the line, but was under such pressure that it hit the side of the goal. Jeff Ferren led Troy (1-0, 10-4) with 10 points a game so low-scoring that Troy led at the end of the first quarter, 6-2. Troy, which was 10-0 in the league last season, led, 30-19, with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but didn’t score for about seven minutes. Fullerton (0-1, 4-6) trailed, 32-31, with 2:17 to play, but Troy went into a delay and Mark Rudometkin (nine points) made two free throws with 22 seconds to play.

Buena Park 73, La Habra 59--Gary Hunter scored 30 points on 15 of 24 shooting, leading the Coyotes (1-0, 8-4). Kevin Grady, who did not start because of a sprained ankle, added 13. Buena Park took a 24-14 lead after the first quarter. Although the Coyote lead was nine points with about three minutes to play, the Highlanders (0-1, 1-8) were unable to get any closer. Buena Park’s Shane Smith and La Habra’s Bob Small hit the only three-pointers of the game. Allan Newman La Habra with 18.