FREEWAY LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Sunny Hills’ Carnesi Leads Way With Free Throws in Victory Over Buena Park

While Sunny Hills was shooting 30% from the field (15 of 50) and Buena Park was matching them almost brick for brick (17 of 55, 31%), Dominic Carnesi sank 11 of 13 free throws to lead Sunny Hills to a 58-40 Freeway League victory Wednesday at Buena Park.

Sunny Hills is 5-10 overall, 3-0 in league. Buena Park drops to 7-9, 2-1.

Carnesi, a 5-foot-9 guard, had his share of shooting problems as well--two three-point baskets and a driving layup were his only field goals.

But Carnesi didn’t enter the game with an average of 18.6 points a game for nothing. He found other ways to shoot the ball--mainly by buzzing around inside Buena Park’s zone and drawing fouls.

Carnesi led all scorers with 19 points. Teammates Terry Mann and David Ragsdale each had nine and eight points, respectively.

“There aren’t any teams in this league that shoot the ball especially well,” Sunny Hills Coach Steve White said. “But everybody takes plenty of shots anyway. Tonight, we did a good job of denying Buena Park the good, basic shots.”

A key in the lopsided victory was the solid rebounding of Mann and Ragsdale. Mann pulled down 17 rebounds and Ragsdale had 14.

Sunny Hills’ rebounding out of a tough zone kept Buena Park from scoring consecutive baskets until 1:43 remained in the third quarter, when guard Donyell Collins sparked a 10-0 Buena Park run with a layup.

Collins paced Buena Park with 17 points. Post player Gavin Molinar added eight points for the Coyotes, and 6-6 sophomore Charles White gave Buena Park eight more points off the bench, and also contributed a pair of blocked shots.

“In the first half, we played the best defense we’ve played all year,” White said. “We were moving our feet real well and keeping them from getting their shots off.”