Eldorado rallies past Silverado in boys basketball

Mitrell Clark and Charles White sat out the first half Friday for what Eldorado boys basketball coach Mike Uzan called “team reasons.”

But the two senior guards were the difference in the second half against No. 3 Silverado.

Clark drained two free throws with two seconds left, and White scored 20 points in the final two quarters as the visiting Sundevils snagged a 58-56 come-from-behind win in a nonleague game.

“This gets us stronger,” Clark said. “One thing is team tries to do is not panic in panic situations.”

The No. 8 Sundevils (13-5) were down by as many as 15 points early in the third quarter but rallied to take a 54-48 lead on a steal and layup by Clark with 1:41 to go. Eldorado led 56-53 with 13.7 seconds remaining before a wild finish.

Silverado’s James Lata was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 6.1 seconds left and made all three foul shots to tie the game. It appeared the game would go to overtime, but Clark then was fouled near the top of the key with two seconds to go, and he put the Sundevils ahead for good.

“I try not to think about the negative things and just stay positive,” Clark said. “At the free-throw line I was saying in my head, 'It’s just like practice. It’s just like practice.’ ”

Lata dropped in a game-high 22 points, and fellow senior Ali Sabra added 20 for the Skyhawks (15-3), who were without injured leading scorer Wade Collie and Joshua Hyun.

“I feel like we definitely let one go,” Lata said. “We had control of the game, and we got a little too comfortable. It’s a tough loss.”

Clark and White spent the first half sitting on the bench and handing cups of water to their teammates during timeouts. They watched as the Skyhawks jumped to a 14-2 advantage and were up 36-24 at halftime. Eldorado committed 16 turnovers and shot just 8 of 26 from the field.

“In a situation like this, we try to keep our head right,” Clark said. “We know we’re going to have games like this; we just have to overcome it.”

Silverado owned its biggest lead at 39-24 when Lata completed a three-point play following a nice reverse layup 10 seconds into the third quarter. But Clark and White entered the game a minute later, and the Sundevils immediately went on a 10-0 run — White had eight of those points — to get back in the game.

“Our kids held up the game in the first half and did a good job, too,” Uzan said. “I have a lot of confidence in all the kids. It’s a great team win.”

Silverado led 43-36 after three quarters before the Sundevils used a 9-0 spurt, capped by a 15-foot jumper from Marcus Moreland, to take their first lead at 45-43.

Sabra answered with a 3-pointer with 4:16 to go to give the Skyhawks a 46-45 advantage, but that was the final time Silverado led. White’s pull-up 15-footer gave the Sundevils a 52-48 lead with 2:30 remaining, and Clark capped the 8-2 burst that put Eldorado on top by six.

Moreland finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Sundevils, who were 22 of 28 on free throws.

“We’re actually pretty decent at shooting free throws,” Uzan said. “We practice free throws a ton, and it came back to pay off for us.”

David Lutomski added nine rebounds and four blocked shots for Silverado. However, the Skyhawks shot 29 percent (12 of 41) from the field over the final three quarters.

“Mitrell is a good player, and so is (White), but I felt like we had no defense,” Lata said. “I’d rather lose now than in the playoffs. At least we realize it now.

“We definitely have to play the whole game on defense.”