Potts free throws gives Trojans crucial win

Petaluma High School’s Trojans boldly stepped into the Dragon’s den Monday night and barely escaped with their Sonoma County League title hopes intact.|

Petaluma High School’s Trojans boldly stepped into the Dragon’s lair Monday night and barely escaped with their Sonoma County League title hopes intact.

Joey Potts calmly dropped home two free throws with just over a second left in the game to give Petaluma a 49-47 win over the underrated Dragons.

The win kept Petaluma in the championship race, improving its league record to 5-2 and its overall mark to 12-7. Sonoma Valley is just 2-7 in league and 7-16 overall, but three of its losses to the three title contenders - Piner, Analy and Petaluma - have been by five points or less.

Sonoma Valley certainly didn’t play like a team with a losing record against the Trojans.

Led by 6-5 sophomore Max Gustafson, the Dragons battled the Trojans even inside, took the ball to the hoop at every opportunity and forced the visiting Petalumans to work for every precious point.

At the outset, it looked as though the Dragons might quickly banish the Trojans from their historic gym, After Drake Paretti scored the first basket for Petaluma, Sonoma ran off 10 straight points, with Dylan Samaniego and Colton Mertens draining 3-pointers to fuel the charge.

Ryan Perez, as he has done so often this season, refused to let the Trojans sink. Spicing foul-producing drives to the hoop with a 3-point hit, he scored nine Trojan points in a 3-minute sprint that helped them close the gap to 14-13 by the end of the first quarter.

It remained close the rest of the way, with Sonoma pounding the ball inside to draw fouls or make baskets, while Petaluma counted on contributions from various sources to match the Dragons.

At different times, the Trojans received key baskets from Potts, Lucas Zedek, Cole Murrin and Brendan O’Neill. Whenever things threatened to get a bit out of hand, Perez would find a way to score for the Trojans or Potts would work inside for a hoop.

Meanwhile, Petaluma had all sorts of tough times stopping Gustafson inside, and when they did manage to get him away from the bucket, he popped home threes, getting two in the late going to keep the Dragons solvent.

Petaluma appeared to have won the game when Murrin dropped in the first of two offered free throws to give it a 47-44 lead with just 13 seconds left, but Sonoma Valley’s burly Eric Bailey nailed a 3-point hit from somewhere near Napa to tie the game.

Petaluma’s final shot was taken, appropriately, by Perez, but his effort fell short. Potts picked off the rebound and was fouled in the process. He stepped to the line as if he were ordering lunch and served up the game-winning free throws.

Perez finished with 20 points and Potts 10, while Gustafson led Sonoma Valley with 16.

The varsity win completed a sweep for Petaluma, with the freshmen winning 43-33 and the junior varsity prevailing, 55-44, after leading just 35-34 after three periods.

Lions no problem

The win came after Petaluma blasted El Molino, 63-36, in a game played in Forestville last week.

Petaluma led, 28-7, at the end of the first period and romped from there.

Perez scored 13 points for Petaluma, while Colin Stremlau added 12. Jordan Kerkvilet led El Molino’s Lions with 10, with teammate Eric-Nils Carlson adding eight.

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