Welcome back: Uzan, Desert Pines top Eldorado

Michael Uzan has been part of plenty of big wins in Eldorado’s gym, both as a player and head coach.

On Thursday, he did it from the visiting bench.

Uzan, in his first season as head coach at Desert Pines, guided his Jaguars to a 70-67 road win over Eldorado.

“I tried to make it just like another league game,” said Uzan, who was head coach at Eldorado for the previous four seasons. “I told the kids it was just a big league game for us. Eldorado’s good. We’ve put a lot of stuff in here and this is a great spot, but it’s about us now. It’s about DP.”

Thomas Hooper, who played at Eldorado last season, finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Jaguars. Two other players — point guard Julian Jacobs (six points, six rebounds, eight assists) and forward Donavin Wright (16 points) — also transferred from Eldorado to Desert Pines this year.

“It was really tough, because this used to be our home,” Hooper said. “Coming back was kind of like LeBron (James) when he left Cleveland and came back. But I just had to play like it was another game.”

Desert Pines (4-0, 2-0 Northeast League) led for the first three quarters before the Sundevils (4-2, 1-1) began to close the gap. Eldorado took its first lead of the game at 61-60 on a three-point play by Markeith Floyd with 3:38 to play.

“Those kids over there are tough,” Uzan said. “Those Eldorado boys are just a good group of guys. They keep fighting all the way through, and I’m proud of them, but I’m even more proud of our guys. Our guys stepped up to the challenge.”

There were two ties and another lead change from there, but Desert Pines took the lead for good on a pair of free throws by Hooper with 1:39 remaining that made it 65-64.

Wright hit two free throws with 14.3 seconds left to make it 70-67. The Sundevils had a final chance to tie the game, but D.J. Billingsley’s 3-pointer went off the rim and Desert Pines’ Najee McIver controlled the rebound as time expired.

“It’s character on their part,” Uzan said. “The guys, they believe in me, I believe in them, we believe in each other as a team. That’s what it’s about, and that’s what helped us carry through this.”

Da’Quon Thrower had 22 points and six rebounds to lead Eldorado. Floyd added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Billingsley had 13 points and 10 rebounds.