East Union’s best player struggled to get open looks Friday at Sierra, but the supporting cast made the host Timberwolves pay for the extra attention they put on third-year junior guard Dylan Lee.
Bryan Howe poured in 13 of his 23 points in the first quarter, and the Lancers staved off a second-half comeback charge to earn a much-needed Valley Oak League win, 54-44.
Anthony Sy contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Alex Cuevas scored just five points but all came in the fourth quarter when Sierra (1-10 VOL, 9-15 overall) trimmed what was once a 19-point deficit down to two. Cuevas also had six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Lee finished with 11 points but did not hit a field goal until he knocked down a jumper from the left wing with 5:59 left in the fourth quarter.
“The whole league is going to trap him,” Howe said of Lee. “He’s one of our main guys, so that opens up shots for me, Sy and Alex. Once they start jumping off of him to guard us he gets his shots.”
Semaj Moore netted 17 points and six rebounds for the Timberwolves. Arvin Chohan contributed 13 points.
East Union (4-5, 16-8) snapped a four-game skid that hurt its chances of snagging an automatic berth to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. Only the top three teams in the VOL are guaranteed postseason spots, but the Lancers can still get in by finishing in the top 15 of the MaxPreps SJS Division III rankings. They went into Friday’s game ranked 13th one spot ahead of Patterson, which EU just so happens to face for an important non-league tilt today.
“Every game is huge and every ‘W’ is going to matter for where we get seeded for the playoffs,” East Union coach Charles Legan said. “It’s one game at a time, and we’re still trying to improve and get better.”
His Lancers got off to a strong start Friday, leading 20-3 with 2 minutes to go in the first quarter. Sierra was slow out the gate, starting with an all-senior lineup for its final home game of the season. Howe drained three of his four 3s in the opening period.
Sy’s fastbreak layup gave East Union its largest lead of the game at 31-12 in the second quarter. The Lancers led 33-16 at halftime.
East Union’s offense stalled in the third quarter when it was outscored 14-4. Moore sparked Sierra with an and-1 bucket 28 seconds into the second half, and Chohan capped scoring in the period with a 3-pointer from the deep right win.
Moore scored from the post on the first possession of the fourth quarter, and Jack Cunial buried a 3 that capped a 10-0 run and closed the Timberwolves in, 37-35.
“I felt like we really shared the ball really well in the first half,” Legan said. “They knew what we were going to do, but I also knew they couldn’t stop what we wanted to do. I felt that if we shared the ball and they collapsed on Dylan, we’d get everyone involved, which we did, and it would open things up.
“Unfortunately, we kind of got away from that in the second half. Basketball is a game of runs. They made their run, but I’m really proud of how we finished.”
East Union answered with a 10-0 burst of its own, highlighted by 3-pointers from Howe and Cuevas on back-to-back possessions. Lee later converted on a reverse layup to push the Lancers’ lead to 51-39, and just like that they were up comfortably again with 2 minutes remaining.
“It’s a cross-town rivalry,” Howe said. “We were on a bit of a losing streak, so we needed a big win if want to make the playoffs. We let the pressure get to us, but we kept fighting and got it back.”
