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Sports

Boys Hoops: Arcadia Survives Muir in Lagace's Debut

Apache junior Taylor Lagace scores 21 points in his first game of the season.

If it were football it would be one of those games that you thought whoever has the ball last was going to win. But this was basketball, and the team with the ball last did not win.

In a seesaw battle at Arcadia on Tuesday night the Apaches escaped with a 60-58 victory when the game’s leading scorer, Deshawn Hayes, came up short on a desperation 3-pointer that would have won the game for the Mustangs.

Arcadia junior Taylor Lagace made his presence felt immediately, after missing the whole season before Tuesday's game. 

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Lagace, who also stars for the Apaches on the football field, led the team in scoring, and he had the basket that gave Arcadia the lead for good at 56-55.

Lagace then made a diving steal, passed to (19 points) whose three-point play gave Arcadia a 59-55 lead with 54.7 seconds left.

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“I was just really pumped up to get back in the game,” said Lagace, who scored 21 points while playing in his first game this season after having been sidelined with an injury. “It felt great to get back and get the ‘W’ the first time I came back.”

Muir previously had gone on a 10-0 run, which began with the Mustangs down 52-45 and ended with them ahead 55-52 with 1:41 left in the game. Hayes, who scored 25 points, had six points in a run that appeared to be a decisive swing in the contest.

But Arcadia (10-8, 4-2 in the Pacific League) stormed back with a 7-0 run of its own.

But the game's outcome was not yet decided. Hayes hit from inside to make it 59-57, and then Muir had a chance to tie when Justin Knowles went to the foul line to shoot two with 5.5 seconds left.

Knowles missed the first shot, and Arcadia coach Jay Ryan took a timeout thinking Knowles would miss the second free throw on purpose to allow his teammates a chance to rebound and score the tying field goal.

Instead, Knowles converted the second free throw, and after Koneru was fouled but made only one of two free throws, it looked as the Mustangs might still pull off a miracle.

Muir (10-6, 3-3) had only 4.2 seconds left to get the ball down court, though. Hayes didn’t get a good look at the basket, and his shot caromed off the iron.

“I thought we did a good job fighting to get back in the game at the end,” Muir coach Dr. Gamal Smalley said. “But we didn’t execute down the stretch. We did a lot of little things that can cost you the ballgame. Unfortunately, the runs didn’t go our way.”

Arcadia’s Robert Haines scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Muir's Dion Nelson and Tevin Polk each contributed 10 points.

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