PHOTOS: Arroyo stuns Saddleback with outside shot at the buzzer in CIF 5A semifinal

Saddleback junior point guard Chris Trotter looks for an open teammate as Arroyo’s Andrew Villa defends during the first quarter of Friday night’s CIF Division 5A semifinal. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone.

Saddleback High School’s boys basketball team came very close to advancing to the CIF Division 5A finals Friday night.

Fourth-seeded Saddleback was trying to reach a CIF championship game for the first time in school history.

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But Arroyo ended the Roadrunners hopes when Kamren Dorantes hit an outside jumper close to the 3-point line at the buzzer to lift Arroyo to a thrilling 60-58 victory. Arroyo students poured out onto the court to celebrate the win following a hard-fought game.

Arroyo got the ball back following after two missed shots by Saddleback and called timeout with 2.2 seconds left in the front court to set up the game winner.

Saddleback (14-14) had the ball with 19.2 seconds left with a chance to win the game. But two shots fell off the rim.

“Tough game, I thought we got off to a great start, Angel Soberanis hit a couple three’s to get us going, I thought their defense was pretty good and it kind of staggered us a little bit from our offensive motion,” said Saddleback Coach Chris Emaguna. “But I thought our guys hung in there, our thing was we got to rebound, I think they outrebounded us tonight and it cost us a little bit.

“But I’m very proud of my guys for being at this point in time. We’re all a little hurt right now, but kudos to those guys and we wish them the best of luck.”

It has been a tremendous turnaround for the Saddleback program which was 2-26 two seasons ago.

Saddleback still qualifies for the CIF Regional tournament which begins the week after the CIF finals.

Arroyo (15-11) moves to to the CIF finals for the first time in school history to meet Rosemead next weekend at a location to be announced.

The game-winning play happened just like Arroyo wanted.

“We took a timeout and we drew that play up for him, we wanted it to be a free throw but the defender did a good job and he took the big shot,” said Arroyo Coach Oscar Lopez. “We’ve never been to the finals, this is the first we’ve been, it’s a good group of kids and they deserve it, they’re starting to hit their stride at the perfect time.”

Arroyo had balanced scoring led by Johnny Vargas, who had 15 points. Dorantes had 14 points and Noe Magana 12 points for the Knights.

Chris Trotter scored 29 points and Angel Soberanis 17 points to lead Saddleback, which jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes. Karstein George added seven points for the Roadrunners.

Saddleback led 33-29 at halftime. The Roadrunners enjoyed a 41-34 lead in the third quarter before Arroyo battled and cut the lead to 41-39 going into the final stanza.

Arroyo moved out to a 2-point lead late before Trotter sank two free throws to tie it 58-58 with 30 seconds left.

The final 30 seconds were wild and the near capacity crowd of Saddleback and Arroyo fans were cheering loudly. Both teams missed chances before Arroyo sealed the win.

“We played hard, we played our hearts out,” said Trotter, a junior guard. “It was just toward the end with crucial mistakes, we didn’t box out most of the game, so that’s what cost us at the end of the game. And we couldn’t really knock down shots toward the end. Kudos to that team, I hope they win state and go on. We’re moving on to state, so we just have to focus on that now.”

“We did the best we can,” added Soberanis, who hit four 3-pointers in the first half. “I feel after the third quarter we should have picked it up a little more and I feel like we let up a little bit, especially early on the rebounds, and that’s really what cost us the game. At the same time, the shot at the end, you can’t really predict if it’s going to go in or out.”

The coach’s advice after the game was simple.

“Just move forward, because it’s already happened, 24 hours, give it up,” said Soberanis.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com