Prep Basketball : Freeway League Roundup : Sunny Hills Stops Fullerton : Lancers Earn a Share of First Place With Victory

This time there was no dramatic rally to lift Fullerton High School past the odds and the opposition in the final minutes.

Fullerton fell behind Sunny Hills and stayed behind in a Freeway League boys’ basketball game Friday night at Sunny Hills and lost, 56-52.

The loss cost Fullerton a chance at winning the league title outright. Instead, Fullerton and Sunny Hills will share the league title with 9-1 records.

Sunny Hills (17-7 overall) won a coin flip Friday and will advance to the Southern Section 4-AA playoffs, which begin next week, as the league’s No. 1 representative. Fullerton (16-6) advances to the 4-A playoffs as the league’s No. 2 team.

Sunny Hills took the lead early in the first quarter and never trailed thereafter. The Lancers clung to a five- to eight-point lead, but it hardly seemed safe, particularly in light of Fullerton’s string of come-from-behind victories this season.

Fullerton rallied from a 21-point deficit to win Wednesday night over Sonora. A week ago, the Indians trailed La Habra by nine points with 2:28 left, but rallied to win. They’ve also rallied from 20, 11 and 14 and still won this season.

Fullerton took a stab at it again Friday, but fell short.

The Indians trailed, 55-49, with less than a minute to play, and three-pointers by Rene Arias and Pete Bach brought them within, 55-52, with 10 seconds left.

Fullerton fouled Sunny Hills guard Jon Beuerlein, but he made one of two free throws with 2 seconds left to ice the victory.

Bach had a game-high 26 points, but was the only Fullerton player to score in double figures. Beuerlein and Jeff White had 14 apiece and Marcus Hopkins 10 for Sunny Hills.

“That was a great game,” Sunny Hills Coach Steve White said. “That’s the way these championship games should be played.”

Indeed, most of the game was played at a frenzied pace. There were three technical fouls called. The Fullerton mascot got the first one for running onto the court after Sunny Hills was preparing to inbound the ball after a timeout.

The second was charged to the Sunny Hills bench, but credit goes to the Lancers’ student section for throwing debris on the court. The third went to Fullerton Coach Chris Burton for arguing a call late in the game.

La Habra 81, Troy 62--David Stevens scored 20 points to lead the Highlanders (12-11, 6-4) at La Habra. John Lowe scored 23 points for Troy (6-16, 2-8). La Habra advances to the 4-A playoffs as the league’s No. 3 team.