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Pacifica uses fourth-quarter comeback to beat Sunny Hills in Loara Tournament final

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ANAHEIM >> If you ask Pacifica boys basketball coach David Friedman, nobody gave the Mariners a chance to win the Loara Tournament

But Pacifica did just that, turning a six-point fourth-quarter deficit into a 57-52 victory over Sunny Hills in the tournament final Saturday at Loara High.

“Honestly, I don’t think anybody thought that we had a chance to win this by beating Loara, Ocean View and Sunny Hills all in a row,” Friedman said. “Our kids might not look like much in a warm-up line, but our kids come to play and they compete and I think we’re starting to surprise some people.”

Shaun Fabisiak scored a game-high 30 points, with 10 of those coming in the final quarter. He was named tournament MVP.

The Mariners (11-2) went on a 14-1 run after Chad Nguyen’s 3-pointer put the Lancers up 43-37 early in the fourth.

Then Fabisiak hit a pair of free throws, Braden Crown knocked down a 3 and Christian Mai (12 points) made a couple of free throws to give Pacifica a 44-43 lead.

Sunny Hills (9-4) tied the game when Zachary Tan made one of two free throws but then the Mariners capped off their 14-1 run with seven more points, including a corner 3 by Mai and a nice fadeaway by Fabisiak.

“We got down six and we came back and made another run at it and tied the game at 44. I can’t be more proud of the resilience that this team shows,” Friedman said.

“When a team gets rolling and they’re confident it’s hard to try to stop that and we fell short toda,” Sunny Hills coach Joe Ok said of the Mariners’ scoring spurt.

The Lancers trailed by seven points with 1:56 left in the game when Nguyen (14 points) and Lawson each got a steal and a layup to help Sunny Hills get within three points, 53-50.

The Mariners moved the ball well on their next possession as they broke Sunny Hills’ full-court press attempt and got an easy bucket by Fabisiak on the other end to secure the victory.

Sunny Hills went up by 12 in the second quarter but Ok knew Fabisiak had to be accounted for on the floor.

“We had to make sure we knew where he was and he started getting loose a little bit and our lead disappeared,” Ok said.

Fabisiak’s shooting kept the Mariners in the game as he proceeded to convert three 3-pointers to end the first half.

Dylan Lawson finished with 18 points for Sunny Hills but only had four points in the second half.

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“It was a little bit tough on our end,” Ok said. “Shots that we normally make and go in, they didn’t find the basket today.”

The Lancers’ next game is against Santiago on Wednesday, Dec. 22, while Pacifica will play California of Whittier on the same day.

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