In a game that featured more twists than a desert road, Coronado’s boys basketball team escaped with a 62-60 overtime victory over Democracy Prep on Wednesday at Doolittle Community Center.
The Cougars (8-7, 3-1 5A Southern League) trailed 13-3 after the first quarter, having missed 7 of 10 free throws and not made a single field goal. But they clawed back to take a 28-26 halftime lead behind consecutive 3-pointers from Missouri State commit Amare Oba and another from Demari Hunter.
Coronado led 39-38 after three quarters, and the score stayed tight in the final minutes of regulation. Democracy Prep (9-8, 0-2) led 51-49 with less than a minute left and had possession, but Munir Greig stole a pass and raced for a layup with 35 seconds remaining to tie the game at 51 and force overtime.
“I was in foul trouble the whole game, so they had to sit me,” said Greig, who finished with 19 points. “When the time went down to six minutes, (coach) said he needed me, so I had to go in there, execute, be a dog and take the game away.”
Overtime was just as tense. Coronado missed all four of its free throws after a Dashuan Harris layup tied the score at 60-60. Democracy Prep then missed a go-ahead 3-pointer by Harris with 34 seconds left, and Coronado called timeout to set up the final play.
With seven seconds remaining, Greig drove left, drew the defense, and found a wide-open DeVaughn Dorrough for the game-winning layup. Dorrough finished with 10 points.
“Everyone in the gym knew that we were going to put the ball in (Greig’s) hands on the last play,” Coronado coach Jeff Kaufman said. “He did what he was supposed to do. It takes a really good player to give that basketball up instead of trying to win it for himself.”
Amare Oba scored 14 points for Coronado. Kaden Arnold led Democracy Prep with 15 points, and Eli Scott added 12 off the bench. The Blue Knights played their home game at Doolittle Community Center after a pipe burst flooded their gym in late November.
Coronado, ranked No. 4 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A boys basketball rankings, missed 20 free throws in the game but still managed to knock off No. 3 Democracy Prep.
“Our concentration at the line, I’ve never seen anything like it, but they managed to get through it,” Kaufman said. “We didn’t score a field goal in the first quarter, but we knew that it was one of those kinds of games where (Democracy Prep) was going to come out in an energy game.”
