VILLA PARK – Two shorthanded boys basketball teams, both very much in need of a win.
Villa Park got the win.
The Spartans defeated Sonora 61-53 in a Freeway League game Tuesday at Villa Park High.
Sonora and Villa Park are tied for second place in the five-team league. They both have 3-2 league records.
Villa Park lost its first two league games, including a 79-66 loss at Sonora.
Villa Park 6-5 freshman forward Jorden Salem scored a game-high 23 points with seven rebounds. Spartans junior point guard Jordan Garcia scored 14 points.
Sonora had a high-scoring freshman, too. Freshman guard Kyle Baek scored 21 points including three 3-point baskets. Senior guard Tyler Holmquist scored 14 points with nine rebounds for Sonora.
The Raiders played without leading scorer Jayden Barnes, a junior guard averaging 21 points a game. Barnes was out because of illness.
Villa Park was missing two key contributors, freshman guard Jalen Cotton, who is out with a broken hand, and senior forward Nate Chung, who has a shoulder injury.
Spartans coach Jesse Mercado said the past couple of weeks have been educational for the roster.
“We’re getting guys to learn new positions and new roles,” Mercado said. “It’s been a test.”
Sonora is No. 17 in the Orange County Top 25. Villa Park is No. 24.
Villa Park made 23 of its 62 shots (37 percent), including 5 for 23 on 3-point attempts. Sonora was 19 for 48 from the field (40 percent), 8 for 20 on 3-point shots.
Sonora lost big in the turnover category, committing 15 turnovers to Villa Park’s six turnovers.
Villa Park led for almost the entire game, going ahead 3-2 on Salem’s three-point play to never trail after that. The Spartans had a 37-39 lead at halftime.
Hayden Hakala’s 3-pointer in the third quarter gave Villa Park its biggest lead of 13 points, 44-31. Sonora came back to cut its deficit to six points, 48-42, at the end of the quarter.
Holmquist’s slick reverse layup early in the fourth quarter sliced Sonora’s deficit to one point, 48-47. Garcia answered with a spin-move drive to increase the Spartans’ lead to 50-47 with 6:01 left in the fourth quarter.
Neither team would make a basket for the following four minutes. Salem, an unusually smooth player for a freshman, made a 13-foot jumper in the lane to push the Villa Park lead to 53-47.
Baek, 5-10, slipped through the Villa Park defense for a driving layup to make it 53-49. Villa Park’s Jedidiah Cain-Graves made a 3, his only shot attempt of the fourth quarter, for a 56-49 lead. Salem’s inside basket with 40 seconds to go provided a 60-53 advantage to secure the Spartans victory.
Salem liked how, when the game got close, Villa Park responded with scoring runs.
“We had some good spurts where everyone got the ball a lot,” Salem said. “Everybody got their shots.”
Villa Park’s next game is at El Dorado on Friday. Sonora plays a league game at Yorba Linda on Friday.
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