It takes a lot more than yelling and stomping to distract Del Oro senior Mark Villa on the court, but Wednesday night it seemed nothing was going to get in his way of sinking a pair of clutch free throws when his team trusted him to do so.
With an entire gym trying to distract him, Villa made both free throws to give the Suns a 54-52 win over a higher-ranked Sanger West team during the 68th annual Lloyd Williams Shootout at North High. The win against Division I Sanger means Del Oro (5-3 overall) now faces the Centennial Golden Hawks (5-1) this evening.
“In those final seconds, I felt nothing but confidence,” Villa said. “But there was no pressure because I knew exactly what I was capable of. I stepped up to that line expecting to knock down both shots, and I did.”
The game was mainly a defensive battle, with a total of only 106 points scored between both teams. The Suns scored 54 of their points with many rotations and everyone being a vital contributor to the win. Seniors Keenan Starling (15 Pts) and Terrel Williams (14 Pts) were the team’s leading scorers.
