Brandon Cline provided the spark Tuesday for the East Union High Lancers.

In the 61-39 Valley Oak League win over Kimball, the 5-foot-9 senior guard came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points including five from beyond the arc at the Dalben Center.

But it was his buzzer-beating 3 to close out the third that may have sent the Jaguars reeling.

“It hit glass,” Cline said. “But I knew I got the shot off in time.”

East Union (1-2 Valley Oak League, 9-6 overall) was in need of a victory after dropping its first two league contests.

“Tonight we got our shots to fall. Our defense was good – with exception of a couple of lapses – but we were able to get some open shots,” said Lancers coach Brett Lewis.

East Union set the tempo early on. Brock Swift kicked off the game with a steal, feeding Wayne Cheung for a quick layup.

Swift follow that up by nailing a 3.

Justin Nieto, who scored off a steal and later buried a 3, found Cline open from beyond arc. He hit both shots from long range.

“I got some clean looks,” Cline said. “Credit my teammates for getting me the ball.”

The Lancers had a 19-11 edge over Kimball thanks to four 3s.

They built their advantage to 27-11 early in the second quarter, but then hit a dry spell.

Fortunately for East Union, the Jaguars (1-2, 8-8) couldn’t muster much offensively. The Lancers entered the break, leading 27-17.

Alex Del Real and Nieto helped the Lancers take a 36-21 third-quarter lead. The Jaguars pulled back to within 10 on Chandler Alves’ reverse layup.

But Cline got the hot hand once again, burying a trio of 3s including the buzzer-beating banker.

“This win was huge,” he said. “Mentally, we really needed this game.”

Nieto chipped in with 14 points while Del Real had nine.

DeVante Baisa and Shakeel Carpenter paced Kimball with nine points each.

Sophomores

Kimball 57, East Union 36

Andrew Ruiz scored 13 in the Lancers’ VOL loss to the Jaguars.  Jordan Perry added 10 and Eric Lewis netted six.

Freshmen

Kimball 56, East Union 40

The Lancers got 13 points from Cody Keener in the loss to the visiting Jaguars.