ORANGE LEAGUE BOYS’ BASKETBALL : Valencia’s Deck Quiets His Critics, Hits Shots to Defeat Western

Sure, Valencia’s Kevin Deck looked calm as he stood at the free-throw line with two seconds left in the Tigers’ game Friday night at Western.

But his heart thumped away at breakneck speed. The Western fans howled for him to miss. And Pioneer forward Jason Etter kept hollering encouraging words like “choke,” “gag” and “brick.”

Deck ignored it all, sinking three free throws to help Valencia defeat Western, 52-51, in an Orange League game. His free throws capped a furious last-minute rally in which Valencia came from six points down in the final seconds.

Western (16-7, 5-3 in the league) led, 51-46, after the Pioneers’ Frank Floyd made one of two free throws with 26 seconds left. Deck countered with a three-point basket at the other end, setting up a wild finish.

Valencia (13-7, 6-2) stole a pass in the backcourt and worked the ball to Bill Eubanks, whose three-point try from the left wing with about seven seconds left was a centimeter too long. The ball flew to Deck, who was standing beyond the three-point line on the right side.

Knowing there was little time to waste, Deck, under heavy pressure from Floyd, threw the ball toward the basket. Floyd lost his balance and crashed into Deck, and the ball fell far short of the hoop.

“I saw the time on the clock and threw the ball up hoping for a foul,” Deck said.

And that’s exactly what he got, and because he was behind the three-point line when he shot, Deck was awarded three free throws.

After two Western timeouts, Deck walked into a hail of woofing from Etter and the Pioneer fans. Deck said he heard nothing.

“Western guys were coming up to me and saying, ‘You’re gonna blow it,’ ” said Deck, an 83% free-throw shooter. “I didn’t hear anything. I was in a zone. I wanted to at least make the first two so we’d go to overtime. Since I made the first two, the third was easy.”

All three free throws hit nothing but net.

Western had one last chance to win, but Floyd’s desperation three-point try was off the mark. Floyd collapsed in a heap in a combination of frustration and disappointment when the buzzer sounded. He had scored 35 points, including 25 of the Pioneers’ 32 second half points.

“I told the kids, ‘You guys have to believe that we’re going to win this game,’ ” Valencia Coach John Cyrus said.

With Western ahead by 11 points midway through the fourth quarter, it seemed a bit of a stretch.

But Western scored only three points--on free throws by Floyd in the game’s final 4 minutes--and Valencia didn’t fold.

Even in the frantic final moments, the Tigers’ optimism didn’t falter.

“Hey, we came back from 24 points down against Orange this year,” said Deck, who had 20 points.

Said Cyrus: “You could see that he wasn’t nervous. And it was all net.”

In other league games:

Anaheim 50, Brea-Olinda 42--Buon Malapha scored 15 points for visiting Anaheim.

Magnolia 64, Savanna 44--Brandon Hearvey had 21 points and 15 rebounds for league-leading Magnolia (7-1, 16-6). Jermaine Moore had 15 points for host Savanna (9-15, 4-4).