Heritage Falls to Lakeside in Overtime After Comeback

#2 Cornelius Holifield drives in on the Lakeside defense, scoring on a layup

After being down 29-11 after one quarter of play, Heritage High School boys basketball team fought back to force an overtime, but lost in the end to Lakeside High School, 77-70.

Down by 2 with two seconds left in the fourth quarter, freshman Rayquan Everett (pictured left) made a game-tying layup after fighting for an offensive rebound from a jumper missed by teammate Jonathan Gordon, forcing the game into overtime.

The status of the game was initially in jeopardy because of a large piece of equipment that collapsed down from the ceiling of Lakeside's main gym on Monday, almost injuring players in Lakeside's basketball program. Fortunate enough to have an auxiliary gym, Lakeside (11-10, 2-3) was able to avoid either rescheduling the game or moving it to an alternate site. Because of this, the fans were treated to a great game that kept them on their feet the entire night.

Initially the Lancers dominated the game, using a full court trap on the Patriots. Taking time to adjust to the pressure by Lakeside, Heritage (4-16, 0-5) overcame the Lancers defense and upped the pace of their offense. On defense, Heritage ran a full-court press of their own, but backed off when Lakeside was able to get around it.

"When we tried to press them we struggled," said Heritage Coach Andrew Ellis about his team's first quarter defense. "They had a couple of really quick and smart guards, so they gave us fits in that full court. I wouldn't say when we fell back, that's when we got into a rhythm. It's when we got used to the flow of the game."

Once Heritage got into the flow of the game, the Patriots chipped away for the next three quarters, finally taking a lead with three minutes left in the fourth quarter and even briefly owning the lead for a couple of those minutes.

In the four minute overtime, the teams ran neck for neck, but eventually the Lancers pulled away behind the outside shooting of sophomore Jordan Johnson, who scored 9 of his 15 overall points in overtime play.

In the last forty-five seconds of the game, the Patriots had to go into foul-mode to stop the clock and try to mount a comeback. Unfortunately for Heritage, Lakeside shot sunk 6 of their 7 free throw attempts in overtime, to ward off another Heritage comeback.

"They played hard and that's the one thing I told them," Coach Ellis said about his team's overall play. "Day-in and day-out, I don't care if we lose by 20 or lose in overtime by 3, if you play hard, I'm happy at the end of the day because you gave me the effort that I want. I couldn't be more proud of them. It's an unfortunate loss and nobody likes to lose like that, but they can't put their heads down. They way they played was unbelievable tonight."

Heritage was led by underclassmen, sophomore Cornelius Holifield who scored 24 points and Everett who scored 16. Lakeside rallied behind Romero's 20 points and Sedrick Jackson's 18.

Heritage will continue on, trying to break their current 6-game losing streak, by traveling to Wildomar to take on first place Elsinore High School (15-6, 5-0) on Jan. 27. On the same day, Lakeside will journey into Menifee and play Paloma Valley High School (9-12, 3-2)

#15 Jonathan Gordon faces off against #2 Sedrick Jackson in a jump ball to kick off overtime

#0 Peyton Taylor waits to take the ball out. There wasn't a lot of room on the sidelines of Lakeside's auxiliary court.

#10 Logan Dreese sizes up the ballhandler, #25 Justin Hall

#2 Cornelius Holifield shoots from the corner to open up the fourth quarter