KLAMATH FALLS – A stolen in bound pass and a banked in free throw gave the Lakeview Honkers boys basketball team a 44-43 victory over the Yreka Miners in the opening round of the Basin Best Tournament at Henley High School on Monday.

“Ugly” was how one Yreka coach described the game, in which Yreka (2-8) seemed to be the superior team, especially early in the contest. Yet, allowed Lakeview (5-5) to steal the game.

Yreka opened the scoring with a Sarome Eng 3-ball. The Miners would hit only one more 3-pointer, despite double digit attempts, the remainder of the game. The other trey came on a buzzer beating launch by Jeremy Cox at the end of the first half.

The Miners led 5-4, when Luke White scored on a nice drive down the lane. Daniel Fisher followed with back-to-back buckets, giving the Miners an 11-4 lead. Yreka led 15-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Trailing 21-16 in the second quarter, Lakeview scored nine unanswered points to take the lead 25-21, with about a minute left in the half. Cox’ 3-pointer for Yreka at the buzzer, made it a one-point game going into the intermission, 25-24.

Yreka regained the lead to open the second half on a bucket by Cole Humphrey, 26-25. A put back by Dillon Dow made it 28-25. After Lakeview scored, Dow added a basket, and Humphrey put back a rebound to give Yreka a five-point advantage, 32-27. The Honkers battled back to take the lead 35-34, with 45 seconds left in the quarter. But, a dish from Cox to Humphreys for a deuce gave Yreka a 36-35 lead going into the final frame.

In the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, the Miners only gave up five points. The problem was they only scored one point, on a Fisher freebie, leading to a 40-37 deficit.

Yreka’s first field goal came at 3:20, when Fisher scored to cut the gap to one point, 40-39. Dow gave the Miners the lead 41-40 at the 2:35 mark.

Lakeview tied it, 41-41, from the charity stripe and then took the lead, 43-41, with 1:36 left to play. Eng was fouled with 50 seconds to go and awarded a 1-and-1. He converted both free throws to knot the score at 43-43.

Fisher came up with a steal for the Miners, and Coach Christian Birch called a time out with 11 seconds to go. Yreka’s first inbound attempt near half court was deflected out of bounds. With 10 seconds on the clock, Yreka had possession about midway into the fore court.

The Miners attempted a cross court in bound pass that was easily picked off by a Honker. With three seconds remaining, a Honker was fouled and went to the line with a chance to win the game. He banked in the first freebie, and missed the second shot. Time expired before the Miners were able to attempt a shot, leaving Lakeview with a 44-43 win.

Yreka’s Daniel Fisher had a game high 17 points. Dillon Dow had 6, and Sarome Eng added 5 points for the Miners.