FREEWAY LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Sunny Hills Steps Up Defense, Beats Troy

After stumbling out of the gate, Sunny Hills is picking up speed in the Freeway League boys’ basketball race.

Wednesday night, the Lancers avenged a first-round loss to Troy with a tough fourth-quarter defensive effort in a 52-49 victory over the Warriors at Troy High School.

Sunny Hills (17-4, 5-2 in league) held Troy (13-8, 4-3) to three-for-11 shooting from the floor in the fourth quarter. The Lancers overcame a 44-41 deficit on Randy Abbott’s steal and layup and making five of six field goals with 6:53 left.

“We moved better and faster in the fourth quarter,” Sunny Hills Coach Steve White said. “We were a lot more aggressive in our zone and played real hard.”

Brandon Haynes scored from underneath to put the Lancers ahead to stay, 45-44, with 5:38 remaining. Hayes scored again for a 47-44 margin with 4:37 left, and guard Kevin Christian fed Terry Mann for a layup on a fast break with 4:03 remaining for a 49-44 Lancer lead.

Scott Paden scored from in close with 1:50 left and Brian Willmer added a free throw with 35 seconds left for a 52-46 Sunny Hills’ margin. Abbott’s running three-point basket with 12 seconds remaining cut the margin to 52-49.

Mann led all scorers with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Tim Lien led Troy, which shot 38% from the floor, with 11 points.

In other league games:

Fullerton 71, Sonora 69 (OT)--Joe Brookman, who scored 13 points, made both ends of a one-and-one to give a Fullerton (7-14, 2-5) a 71-66 with 12 seconds remaining. James Canaday made a three-pointer on Sonora’s next possession before Fullerton let the final four seconds run out. Pablo Garza led Fullerton with 14 points. Chris St. Clair scored a game-high 25 points for Sonora.

Buena Park 68, La Habra 58--Bryan Baylor had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Angel Barrios added 13 points for host Buena Park (17-4, 6-1), which led 33-19 at the half. Cinque Brown scored 20 points for La Habra (3-16, 0-6).