Woodbridge Free Throws Stop Tustin : Prep basketball: Sunderman hits two in final minute to give Warriors 46-44 victory and a tie for first place.

Tustin and Woodbridge had enough patches of fall-on-your-face inconsistency to get kicked out of most respectable gyms. But that didn’t mean they didn’t play an exciting Sea View League basketball game Friday night at Woodbridge.

Two free throws by Ryan Sunderman with 43 seconds left provided the winning margin in Woodbridge’s 46-44 victory.

Tustin’s Jentry Moore missed a short jump shot in the key, but the rebound was kicked out of bounds by a Woodbridge player with 17 seconds left.

Then, a driving Maurice Fletcher had his pass knocked out of bounds with three seconds left.

Moore got the ball again, but his stumbling throw at the basket missed as the buzzer sounded. Moore thought he was fouled. The officials thought otherwise and didn’t stick around to debate the issue--running for the exits at top speed.

The victory moved Woodbridge into a first-place tie with Tustin. Each is 4-1. Woodbridge is 14-4 overall and Tustin, sixth-ranked in Orange County, is 15-7.

The box score will show that Woodbridge won a rough-and-tumble game at the free-throw line, making 19 of 23 to four of five for Tustin.

None were as important as Sunderman’s. He rebounded a missed free throw by Fletcher with 44 seconds left and boxed out Robert Hall well enough to draw a foul.

“Very clutch,” Woodbridge Coach Bill Shannon said of Sunderman’s free-throw shooting.

What you won’t find in the box score is the name of Joe Arave, who didn’t score a point, but played a key role in turning the game around for the Warriors.

After a 9-9 tie by the end of the first quarter, Tustin suddenly went cold. Nothing worked. Two jump shots by Derek Roche were all the Tillers could manage. And Woodbridge led, 23-13, by halftime.

In the third quarter, Woodbridge foundered, was outscored, 25-6, and looked lost. Roche had 14 of his game-high 22 points in the quarter, including three three-point baskets.

Shannon then put Arave into the game with strict orders: hound Roche.

“There are guys you go against who are just relentless human beings and you hate to see them coming; you hate to go against them,” Shannon said of the Arave-Roche matchup.

With Arave, a 5-foot-9 guard, guarding Roche, 6-1, Tustin slowed to a crawl. Woodbridge rallied from a nine-point deficit to take the lead, 41-40, after Arave stole the ball from Roche and passed downcourt to Sunderman for an easy layup.

Ethan Twer had 17 points, Sunderman 14 and Todd Loewe 13 for Woodbridge.