Honkers victorious after 2OT battle with RedHawks

A mental mistake and an outburst of frustration earned Ryan Amaru a technical foul for slamming the ball down after fouling Colusa High's Kevin Buenrostro, but the lanky center made up for his blunder by playing a critical role in leading Willows High to a thrilling 57-54 double-overtime victory Friday in Colusa.

The foul and the ensuing technical led to three points for Colusa, which cut the Honkers' lead in half during the fourth quarter of a close game against a RedHawks team with several come-from-behind wins under its belt already this season.

"I was a bit mad but I wasn't trying to do anything," Amaru said.

During the three-plus quarters prior to the technical, Amaru went scoreless with nine rebounds — but he began to rectify the situation immediately after the foul, blocking Colusa's next two shots.

"I was playing better and I was thinking I needed to keep doing that," he said.

Amaru scored all four of Willows' points in the first overtime to set up the decisive final overtime period. Alex Alves got the Honkers started in the second overtime with a basket, and Ryan Welsh forced two turnovers which lead to four more points and a 55-49 lead.

"Amaru came on strong there at the end, he played with some fouls. (Buenrostro) was giving him trouble because he's so big and was coming underneath him, and this is only the second year he's played so he's learning," Willows coach Darrell Schonauer said.

Colusa's Eric Barrera scored with 35 seconds left and Amaru responded with a bucket of his own to maintain the lead for Willows. Jordan Hillis scored on a three-pointer with two seconds left but the final buzzer sealed the game, 57-54.

In the final minutes of regulation and the two, four-minute overtime periods, Amaru scored eight points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked his third shot of the night late in the second overtime.

Friday's game followed a similar script as the last time the two teams played each other but the roles were reversed. On Dec. 17 during the Georgia Raczniak Christmas Tournament in Colusa, the RedHawks led most of the game and had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Honkers rallied back to tie the game on a bucket by Amaru with 15.7 seconds left, before Buenrostro sank a free throw with 1.9 seconds left to win the game for the RedHawks, 64-63.

This time it was Willows which jumped out to the early lead and had to fend off a late rally.

"They play a heck of a game. We don't match up with them, I thought we would but they hang in there and play hard. Their coach does a good job with them, they get the most out of what they got," Schonauer said.

The RedHawks trailed by eight entering the fourth quarter but clawed back into striking distance after Hillis sank his second three-pointer to pull within two, 41-39, with less than four minutes remaining.

Cyrus Yerxa and fellow senior Tyler Martin got into foul trouble early while guarding Welsh and Alves, and missed much of the fourth quarter rally, Colusa coach Marty Remmers said.

"Part of that is just (Welsh and Alves) are good athletes, they're going to get a lot of guys in foul trouble. I thought our guys played hard, they left it all out there on the floor tonight and there's nothing else I can ask for than that," Remmers said.

Barrera scored four points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench and Luke Corriea played significant minutes late in the game while Yerxa and Martin were sidelined with four fouls.

"That's really good to see because that's the future of our program. At one point we had three juniors and a sophomore (Corriea, Hillis, Buenrostro and Barrera) on the floor so I'm really glad to see those guys step up," he said.

Yerxa returned to the court midway through the fourth quarter for the first time since picking up his fourth personal foul early in the third and sank two free throws to tie it with 1:11 remaining in the game.

The Honkers retook the lead on a fadeaway from Alves six seconds later, but Yerxa knotted the score at 45-45 with 38 seconds left.

Willows had two chances to win the game in the final 30 seconds of the game, but couldn't get a shot to fall and the game went into overtime.

Buenrostro, Amaru's nemesis in the post, missed his first six shots of the game and didn't score until the third quarter was nearly over. However, late in the game Buenrostro matched Amaru and played a key part in Colusa's fourth-quarter rally.

He scored his first two points with 1:39 left in the third quarter and added four straight points leading up to Amaru's technical. Buenrostro finished the game with 11 points, seven in the fourth quarter, and 12 rebounds.

The RedHawks began the game with the hot hand, making their first three shots and went 5-of-6 from the floor for an 11-4 lead early but the Honkers went on an 17-0 run which lasted into the second quarter. Ryan Welsh did most of the damage during that span, scoring nine points.

Willows (12-6, 3-0 Sacramento Valley League) led by 10 points in the second quarter but Yerxa pulled the RedHawks within six in the final minute of the half when he launched his first three-point attempt of the game, which took a fortuitous roll around the rim and fell through the net. The Honkers led 28-22 at the break.

Welsh led all scorers with 19 points, Alves added 17 points and Nathan Boyd chipped in seven. Amaru scored eight points and collected a game-high 16 rebounds.

Yerxa led Colusa (10-7, 0-3 SVL) with 15 points and Hillis scored 13 points. Bre'on Jones scored 10 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, swiped five steals and dished out five assists.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.