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Saddleback boys basketball falls in 5A semifinals when Arroyo sinks shot at the buzzer

February 22, 2025

SANTA ANA — The Saddleback boys basketball team was dealt a crushing loss Friday by Arroyo in the CIF-SS Division 5A semifinals at Saddleback High School.

Kamren Dorantes hit a jump shot from just inside the 3-point line with fractions of a second left in the contest to lift the Knights to a 60-58 victory.

Arroyo (16-11) will take on Rosemead in the championship game on Feb. 28 or March 1 at a site to be determined.

The Panthers defeated South El Monte, 44-33, in the other Division 5 semifinal Friday.

With the score tied, 58-58, Arroyo missed a chance to take the lead, giving the Roadrunners (14-14) possession with 17.5 seconds remaining.

The Roadrunners missed their first shot and missed a putback attempt, giving the ball back to the Knights with 2.2 seconds left.

Arroyo inbounded the ball and made a quick pass to Dorantes, who was well guarded by Chris Trotter when he put up the winning shot.

“We couldn’t knock down shots at the end,” said Trotter, who scored all 17 of the Roadrunners’ points in the fourth and finished with a game-high 28. “We couldn’t box out the whole game and that cost us at the end.”

Saddleback had a two-point lead going into the fourth and early in the period the Knights’ Johhny Vargas hit a 3-pointer to make the score 45-45.

Trotter answered with a 3-pointer to put the Roadrunners back up.

Dorantes scored to get the Knights to within a point, when Trotter answered again, this time hitting a pair of free throws at get Saddleback’s lead up to three with 3 minutes, 30 seconds remaining.

The teams traded baskets again when Vargas and Dorantes hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, with a miss in between by Saddleback, giving the Knights a three-point lead with 1:20 remaining.

Trotter tied the score with a pair of free throws, but the Roadrunners came up empty on their final possession, setting the stage for the game-winning shot.

“I think from our end, I think once we got it across, I would have liked to slow it up a little bit,” Saddleback coach Christopher Emaguna said of the Roadrunners’ final possession. “I tried to call a timeout, couldn’t get it. And our guys felt like they had an open shot and took it. Just wish we could have pulled it out and got it to our 3-point shooters.”

During a timeout prior to the game winning shot, Knights coach Oscar Lopez said the play was drawn up specifically for Dorantes.

“We took a timeout. We drew that play up for him,” Lopez said. “We wanted it to be a free throw, but you know, the defender did a good job of stretching him out a little bit. He took the three. He was anxious all game, but he settled down at the end and took the big shot.”

Orange County Register

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Saddleback boys basketball falls in 5A semifinals when Arroyo sinks shot at the buzzer

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