Arizona men's wheelchair basketball's bid for back-to-back titles falls short

No. 3 Arizona couldn’t hold off No. 6 SMSU in the quarterfinals of the men’s NIWBT, as the Wildcats succumbed to the Mustangs, 66-57.

The No. 3 Wildcat women also fell, 78-55, Thursday in their match vs. No. 2 UTA. They are set to take on Illinois for a shot at third place at 7 p.m. Friday at McKale Center. 

After Arizona football head coach Brent Brennan served the celebrity tip-off for the men just after 2 p.m., it was a promising start for Arizona.

The Wildcats’ starting five included freshman Broden Nagle, senior Dylan Zander, graduate student Ben Thornton, sophomore Carlos Reynoso and junior Brandon Louie.

Louie was first to break the ice by scoring the first two points of the game. Reynoso and Nagle followed suit, scoring an additional two points each, bringing the score to 6-0 within the first few minutes.

Nearly halfway through the first quarter, Reynoso sank two more shots, making the score 10-0.

After SMSU took its first timeout, Nagle scored two, giving Arizona a 12-0 lead.

SMSU’s Emmanuel Fuentes, a native of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, put the Mustangs on the board after scoring two, putting the score at 12-2 with 3:30 left in the first quarter.

From there, it was a back-and-forth game, but the Wildcats remained in the lead.

By the time the first quarter ended, the Wildcats were up 22-7.

Arizona maintained its lead well through the second quarter, starting with a successful free throw from Nagle, taking the Wildcats to 23-7.

After a couple of points from Arizona’s Louie and SMSU’s Fuentes, the score shot up to 27-13, with the Wildcats still in the lead.

Reynoso and Fuentes both scored off the glass, bringing the score to 29-15 with 3:30 left of the quarter.

Just before the end of the first half, Zander hit the first three-pointer of the game, giving the Wildcats a 34-19 lead heading into halftime.

Things began to fall apart for the Wildcats in the second half.

They began the third quarter with two fouls and a turnover, prompting head coach Mike Beardsley to call a timeout. 

However, Arizona had a difficult time bouncing back from its rough start as SMSU went on a 15-4 run against the Wildcats in the third’s first several minutes.

With only 2:40 left on the clock for the third quarter, the Mustangs took the lead for the first time in the game, with a score of 39-38.

Arizona briefly took back the lead after Thornton scored two points, bringing the score to 40-38.

That lead was short-lived as the Wildcats missed two essential layups in the last few minutes of the game and SMSU’s Fuentes continued to add on to the Mustangs’ total, ending the third quarter with a lead of 45-40.

The Wildcats fought back early in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hold up against SMSU, which was dominating in the paint and from outside. 

The Mustangs scored first in the final quarter, keeping their lead and bringing the score up to 47-40.

Arizona’s Reynoso followed SMSU’s points with four of his own, bringing the Wildcats closer to taking back the lead with a score of 47-44, but SMSU still held the lead.

Arizona freshman Gabriel Taylor subbed in to help the Wildcats put some points on the board. He scored twice before the 6-minute mark, bringing the score to 54-48. Teammate Louie tacked on two more for a 54-50 score just before the halfway mark.

Zander sank one of two free throws from the stripe, as the Wildcats still trailed 54-51 with 3:30 left on the clock.

SMSU’s Fuentes hit the Mustangs’ first three-pointer, boosting their lead to 57-51.

As the Wildcats fought to secure their place in the semifinals, the Mustangs continued to power over Arizona in the second half.

The Mustangs had successful free throws while Fuentes scored three times in the game’s final minutes. But the Wildcats didn’t go down without a fight as they battled to score in the last seconds of the game. 

Final score: 66-57, SMSU over Arizona.

The men’s NIWBT championship game will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at McKale Center.