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East Union completes season sweep of Sierra with another buzzer beater
Sierra-East Union boys basketball
East Union’s Lorenzo Jones challenges the layup from Colby Vueve in a Valley Oak League game against visiting Sierra. - photo by SEAN KAHLER

 East Union hit another buzzer beater to end the game against Sierra on Wednesday, but this time, the win was already well in hand.

It was still a special moment for deep reserve Shayan Rezaye, who scored his first points of the season in the 59-35 rout at Dalben Center. The senior center grabbed a defensive rebound, dribbled past the midcourt line and launched the 35-footer on the run just as the final horn sounded.

All net.

East Union’s student section flooded the court to celebrate, much like it did at Sierra on Jan. 17 when Kirk Simoni sank a corner 3-pointer to complete the Lancers’ 55-53 comeback win.

“I saw there was like 12 seconds left on the clock, and apparently my coach was saying to not shoot the ball, but I couldn’t hear,” Rezaye said. “So I just pulled it and it went in. I didn’t even know if it counted, but hey, it went in.”

It was a complete effort for East Union (5-3 VOL, 13-10 overall), as it eyes a playoff berth with four games left in the regular season. Ten different Lancers scored and were led by fiery forward Lorenzo Jones, the lone double-digit scorer with 11 points to go with 14 rebounds, three steals and a block. Nine of those rebounds came off the offensive glass.

“This game was personal to me, because I went to Sierra last year and transferred over,” Jones said. “I just knew this was a must-win game, and I’ve always played with this much intensity. I feel like that’s one of the best things I do, is grab rebounds, and it just helps out the team to win.”

He helped the Lancers dominate the boards by a 40-20 margin.

Back-up wing Vincent Hudson helped key their commanding second half, scoring all eight of his points over the final two quarters.

Colby Veuve (six rebounds) and Romero Callender scored eight points each to pace the Timberwolves (0-8, 5-17), who have lost nine straight.

After scoring the first three points of the game, East Union did not make another field goal for the final 6:24 of the opening quarter, as Sierra led 7-4 going into the second.

The Lancers charged out to 12-2 run to start second period. Kalel Santos (four points) highlighted the spurt with a backcourt steal that led to his uncontested layup, and Jackson Pellizzari (seven points) followed with an and-1 conversion off a put-back.

Robby Espinosa later scored all five of his points in a 30-second span during that flurry, knocking down a 3-pointer and then scoring on a fastbreak with a nifty spin move in the key. East Union took a 20-15 lead into halftime.

The Lancers broke it open with 12 unanswered points early in the third quarter, as they widened their lead to 32-17. Sierra was held without a field goal in the last 3 minutes of the quarter, as East Union led 40-24 going into the fourth.

“We been building leads all year long, and it’s about putting teams away,” EU coach Dutch Ell said. “We’ve worked on playing unselfish basketball when you have a lead, getting a great shot versus a good shot and playing for each other — I feel like we did that tonight. Defensively, we worked on a game plan and followed through in the second half. We came out of halftime and did exactly what we were supposed to do; we rebounded very well, we pushed (the tempo) and we were very unselfish tonight. That third quarter just goes to show what unselfish basketball can do for us.”

East Union travels to Patterson on Friday, while Sierra heads to Mountain House.  

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El Camino-Ripon girls soccer
Ripon striker Olivia Maragos gestures to the crowd after scoring the first of her two second-half goals in the Indians’ 4-0 Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV quarterfinal win over El Camino on Tuesday. - photo by JONAMAR JACINTO/The Bulletin
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