YORBA LINDA — When the El Dorado and Yorba Linda boys basketball teams battle on the hardwood, toss the records aside, as anything can happen.
The host Mustangs pushed the Golden Hawks to the edge but Jake Waters missed a 3-point shot in the waning moments of overtime and El Dorado held on for a 61-59 win in a Freeway League game Friday night at Yorba Linda High.
Noah Barker scored six of the eight points for the Golden Hawks (20-2, 4-0) in the extra period. Barker, a senior forward, finished with a team-high 21 points.
“I’ve been talking to my guys quite a bit about the little things, and there’s a lot of slippage,” El Dorado coach Ryan Mounce said. “You know, if it wasn’t for Noah making some plays in the fourth quarter and in overtime, we lose. That’s the toughness of our league. From 1 to 5, anybody can beat anybody on any given night.”
Waters had a game-high 23 points, including four 3-pointers.
Mustangs coach Jason Pietsch was disappointed with how the game ended, but was happy overall with his team’s performance.
“When Jake shot that ball from the corner, I thought it looked good,” Pietsch said of Waters’ 3-point attempt at the end of OT. “It looked good from our angle. You know what, he hit a lot of shots tonight. We just needed one more, and we didn’t get it.”
“It could have just as easy went in,” Mounce said of Waters’ shot. “To be honest with you, I wouldn’t have felt any different, because I give them (Yorba Linda) a lot of credit for showing up and playing.
“Jason is a really good coach. The kids play with a lot of heart and it’s a crosstown rivalry, like we talked about.”
El Dorado also got huge contributions from Jack Boettner and Ryan Northcott.
Boettner scored 13 points, nine in the first half. Northcott added 12 points, with eight of those in the third quarter.
With just 40 seconds left in the game, Barker made a pair of free throws to give the Golden Hawks a 52-51 advantage.
El Dorado forced a jump ball and got the ball back from Yorba Linda and then Boettner made 1 of 2 free throws on the Golden Hawks’ next possession to make it 53-51.
The Mustangs (9-14, 1-3) forced overtime when sophomore point guard Dante Lewis drove to the basket and made an acrobatic layup to tie the score.
Eli Rodarte’s shot from beyond the arc in the final seconds of regulation fell short of the mark for the Golden Hawks.
Rodarte’s basket in the extra period made the score 61-56. He was the only El Dorado player to score in the extra period besides Barker.
Josh Willerer (12 points) and Zen Bhayani (9 points) each knocked down a 3-pointer in overtime for the Mustangs.
Mounce is looking forward to the second round of Freeway League play.
“I’m happy for our boys. We’ve won 20 games. We finished the first round (of league) 4-0,” Pietsch said. “We got two road wins, which was huge — one at Villa Park and one at Yorba Linda. But you know, as Mike Tomlin says, ‘the standard is the standard.’ ”
