SUNRISE BOYS: White’s only baskets culminate Eldorado rally for Sunrise title

For 31 minutes and 48 seconds, Liberty held Eldorado’s Charles White without a basket Friday night.

But in the final 12 seconds, he was unstoppable.

White made two baskets, including the go-ahead layup with 0.2 seconds remaining, to give Eldorado a come-from-behind 57-56 victory for the Sunrise Region boys championship at Liberty.

The Sundevils (23-8) trailed 55-51 before rallying to win in the final 19 seconds.

“As a team, when we’re at our best we can’t be beat,” White said. “If we believe and never stop hustling, we can’t be beat.”

The victory gave Eldorado a semifinal berth in next week’s Class 4A state tournament at Orleans Arena. Liberty (18-8) will meet Sunset runner-up Palo Verde (22-5) in a play-in game at 6:45 p.m. Monday at Arbor View for the final berth at state.

Liberty struggled at the free-throw line, especially down the stretch, and finished 9-for-21. The Patriots enabled Eldorado’s comeback by making only 3 of 8 in the final 1:01, twice missing the front end of one-and-ones.

Liberty led 55-51 and had Cameron Peters at the line with 29.7 seconds remaining. But he missed both free throws, and Bobby Webb’s rebound basket with 19 seconds left cut the lead to 55-53.

Eldorado’s Tone Gatewood then came up with a steal and passed to White for a layup to tie the score at 55 with 12 seconds to go.

Liberty’s Kenneth Peters was fouled near halfcourt with 6.7 seconds left and made 1 of 2 attempts for a 56-55 lead.

Eldorado got the ball to Mitrell Clark in the backcourt. Clark drew two defenders, then passed to White, who drove for the go-ahead layup.

“We knew they would focus on (Clark),” Eldorado coach Michael Uzan said. “We gave a double pick for (Clark) and Charles creeped out the back door. (Clark) saw Charles wide open and Charles finished the layup.”

Liberty was granted a timeout with 0.2 seconds remaining, but its inbounds pass hit one of the lights, and the Sundevils were able to inbound and run out the clock.

The Patriots kept Eldorado out of its comfort zone most of the night, using a triangle-and-two defense against Clark and White. Clark, who scored 51 points Thursday and had 79 in the first two playoff games, was held to 15 points.

“They tried to take away our best dribblers,” White said. “But we’ve always got somebody that’s going to step up.”

That somebody was Gatewood, who took advantage of soft spots in the defense to score a team-high 18 points. Gatewood scored one point in Thursday’s 92-90 overtime victory over Desert Pines.

“He’s been our defensive man,” White said. “He always likes to guard the best offensive player. It was his time to shine. It was his time to step up, and he did what he had to do to help the team.”

Kenneth Peters scored 18 points to lead Liberty, and Milos Knezevic supplied 11 points and 16 rebounds.