ORANGE LEAGUE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Crack Halfcourt Shooter Wins Game at Buzzer for Savanna

When it comes to making last-second desperation shots from halfcourt and beyond, Savanna High School’s Jeremy Lyche is getting either awfully lucky, very good or a combination of the two.

Lyche, who had sunk a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to end the first half, banked in a 45-footer with one second remaining in the game to beat Valencia, 68-65, in an Orange League game Friday night at Valencia.

A sixth consecutive victory sewed up second place for Savanna (16-9, 7-3 in league) behind champion Western and left Valencia (15-7, 5-5) in third.

Valencia led, 65-62, on point guard Justin Jimenez’s two free throws with 34 seconds left, but the Rebels’ Andy Trumpour hit a three-point shot to tie the score with 14 seconds left. Valencia turned the ball over, and Lyche managed to get off his desperation shot before time expired.

“I’ve made three of them now,” said Lyche, who sank another last-second halfcourt shot at the end of the first half in last week’s one-point victory over Western. “It was luck. It was luck. It was luck. We wanted to go for the win. We didn’t want to go into overtime.”

Valencia took a 27-18 lead on Raul Padilla’s three-point play for the game’s biggest lead with 4 minutes 5 seconds left in the second quarter. Savanna then went on a 12-4 spree, culminating with the first of Lyche’s long-distance heaves, to leave Valencia with just a 31-30 lead at halftime.

Trumpour led all scorers with 25 points, including 10 for 10 from the free-throw line, and Lyche added 19. Valencia’s John Wilson scored 20, and Padilla added 11.

“We’ve lost games like this before this season,” Savanna Coach Kevin Kiernan said. “Tonight, everything evened out.”