Prep Basketball : Freeway League Roundup : Fullerton’s Arias Keys Win Over Sunny Hills

Rene Arias had to miss his team’s victory over Sonora Wednesday.

The Fullerton High School point guard had broken two knuckles on his shooting hand in practice on Monday and had to have a cast put on his hand.

But Friday night was a different story.

Fullerton and defending Freeway League champion Sunny Hills were to meet in a battle of the league’s undefeated (4-0) teams.

This was too big a rivalry for Arias to miss. After all, it was Sunny Hills that put an end to Fullerton’s 7-game winning streak last season and flexed its muscle ending 3 years of Indian domination of Sunny Hills.

The point guard decided this was one game he wasn’t going to pass up. Arias had his doctor remove the cast and had his hand taped.

Then in front of about 500 spectators at Fullerton, he connected on 7 of 13 3-point baskets and 5 of 5 free throws to lead his team to a 75-63 victory with 30 points.

“They gave it to me and I just shot,” Arias said. “I had a broken hand, so I guess they just gave (the shot) to me.

The victory was probably the biggest for first-year Fullerton Coach Chris Burton, the youngest varsity coach in Orange County at 23.

Burton had nothing but praise for Arias, a 5-foot 8-inch junior.

“He is all heart,” Burton said. “You can take away any other part of his body, but you can’t take his heart away.”

Sunny Hills Coach Steve White said Fullerton’s 3-point shots took his team out of the game. That and foul trouble for 6-6 center Marcus Hopkins, who scored 14 points.

Fullerton (12-5, 5-0) takes the 3-point shot regularly to compensate for its lack of height. The Indians made 11 of 22 3-point shots. Fullerton has only 1 player (Pete Bach) over 6-4 but outrebounded Sunny Hills, 40-29.

“We set 2 goals yesterday: to outrebound Sunny Hills 3 of the 4 quarters and to not allow them to beat us offensively inside,” Burton said.

The first half was fairly even with Sunny Hills (12-7, 4-1) connecting on 43% of its shots and Fullerton 46%.

Fullerton trailed early but battled back to lead, 37-34, at halftime.

Hopkins opened the third quarter with a basket to cut the lead to 1 at 37-36. But Fullerton scored 8 unanswered points on 2 Arias 3-point shots and a Lee Green field goal to lead 45-36.

Fullerton led by as many as 13 points in the second half before a Sunny Hills’ run cut the lead to 1 at 64-63 with about 3 minutes to play. Fullerton answered with a run of its own, scoring 9 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.

Jeff White led Sunny Hills with 17.

La Habra 70, Troy 62--Tim Moore scored 30 points and James Clegg 15 to lead visiting La Habra (9-9, 3-2). Troy led, 28-24, at the half but La Habra outscored the Warriors, 22-8, in the third quarter. Richard Wesley scored 20 points and Mike Abbott 15 for Troy (5-12, 1-4).

Sonora 35, Buena Park 33--Matt Recktenwald scored on rebound basket with 2 seconds left for visiting Sonora (6-11, 2-3). Recktenwald had a game-high 16 points. Richard Harvey scored 14 for Buena Park (0-14, 0-4).