PHOENIX – After trailing for 21 minutes and 35 seconds, Sunnyside junior Cesar Ozuna and his teammates had enough of being on the ropes.
Ozuna stole the ball at half court and took it to the rack for a layup with 45 seconds remaining, giving him his 14th point of the night and, much more importantly, giving the Blue Devils their first lead since early in the second quarter.
Junior forward Jacob Inclan went on to sink two free-throws as eighth-seeded Sunnyside upset No. 9 Phoenix Paradise Valley 44-41 in the second round of the Division II state tournament on Saturday night.
The Blue Devils (25-5) play top-seeded Phoenix Shadow Mountain, the defending state champion, on Wednesday at the Gila River Arena in Glendale. Sunnyside is one of four Southern Arizona boys teams remaining in Division II action along with No. 2 Cholla, No. 3 Cienega and No. 11 Nogales.
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“We've played down before and have come back in games like this,” Inclan said. “I think the biggest part is we play for each other, when someone is down we pick them right back up.”
Click here to read about second-seeded Cholla moving on with a 64-49 win against Sierra Vista Buena on Saturday night.
Sunnyside coach Rob Harrison switched from a two-three zone to man-to-man defense in the second half. And thanks to sophomore Santino Duarte playing big minutes in the paint, the Blue Devils clamped down on the Trojans and outscored the Trojans 25-17 in the second half.
“Santino got their best player in foul trouble early,” Harrison said. “And we were able to play the whole second half until four-minute mark with their best kid on the bench.”
Inclan, who finished with 12 points, said he and his Blue Devils talked about finishing before the game especially after the Blue Devils were eliminated in the second round each of the last two years.
“This feels great,” Inclan said. “For the past two years, since my freshman year, we've always got to the second round but got knocked out.
"Before the game, I said: “Third time’s the charm, I hope we can get past them,” and we did. We have a lot of heart, we want this more than anything.”
Chuck Constantino
No. 3 Cienega 79, No. 14 Tempe 69, OT: At Cienega, the third-seeded Bobcats faced a stiff challenge from the No. 14-seeded Buffaloes of Tempe High. Freshman Jordan Green gave the hosts a chance at redemption when he calmly sank two free throws with 5 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
“I wasn’t focused on anything else but those two shots, I just cleared my mind and tried to do what I could for my team” Green said.
Green was also faced with a huge task on the defensive end with guarding DeLano Jones of Tempe, one of the leading scorers in the division. Jones did his best to lead the Buffaloes (20-10) to the upset with 25 points, but Terrence Johnson from Cienega erupted in the fourth quarter and overtime, scoring 19 of his game-high 31 points in the final two periods.
Johnson felt the true hero of the game was Green however, saying “I’ve go to give a huge shout out to Jordan Green. We gave him a hard assignment tonight, but he was a true leader on the court for us when we needed him.”
Cienega coach Matt Johnson felt that both Green and Johnson stepped up when the team needed them the most.
“It was a freshman getting it done on the defensive end with Jordan, and a senior getting it done on the offensive end with Terrence,” the coach said. “We knew we needed a big game from Terrence to get past these guys, and we got it when we needed it.”
Tim Towle
No. 4 Gilbert Christian 61, No. 20 Pueblo 56: At Gilbert Christian, the visiting No. 20 Pueblo Warriors found an early nine-point deficit too large to overcome, losing to the No. 4 Gilbert Christian Knights by a score of 61-56 in the second round of Division II state tournament on Saturday night.
Junior Mitch Lightfoot, who transferred from Ironwood Ridge last summer, led the way with 20 points for the Knights, who have won 15 straight games.
Pueblo, which advance to the second round by upsetting Sahuaro, trailed 24-11 by the end of the first quarter. First-year coach Kelvin Eafon said the early struggles were just a matter of not having postseason experience.
“It took us a little bit to settle in,” Eafon said.
But long distance jumpers from senior guard Aiden Romero and an inside presence on the offensive and defensive glass from senior forward Naquwan Soloman help to spark the Warriors to life. The pair led the team with 18 points each.
“Give them [Pueblo] credit,” said Gilbert Christian coach Kurt Keener. “They fought, clawed for every second.”
With eight rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocked shots, Solomon was a leader on both ends of the floor.
“That’s just being a good teammate,” Solomon said.
Bob Benedetti
DIVISION III GIRLS
No. 5 Pusch Ridge Christian 42, No. 12 Whiteriver Alchesay 30: At Amphitheater, the fifth-seeded Lions played in front of a hostile crowd and barely blinked, leading from the opening moments of the game to a gain a convincing 42-30 victory over Alchesay in the second round of the girls Division III state tournament.
Pusch Ridge, the winner of seven straight games, is the only Southern Arizona team left in Division III action after Palo Verde lost to Winslow on Saturday night. The Lions face No. 4 Safford on Thursday in the quarterfinals at Gila River Arena in Glendale at 10:30 a.m.
Pusch Ridge traveled just eight miles to the playoff site while the Falcons traveled 192 miles, but a loud "Let's go Falcons" chant erupted even before the opening tip from the nearly 400 Alchesay fans in attendance and carried into the first few minutes of the game.
On playing in front of the partisan crown, the Lions were familiar since they played at some loud road games this season including a win earlier in the year at San Carlos.
"I told my girls it's part of it, but it's still basketball," coach Lonnie Tvrdy said after the game. "Luckily they stepped up."
The Lions did step up, forcing some contested Falcons shots to take a 13-4 lead after one quarter. Alchesay was never able to get closer than seven points the rest of the way. By the end of the game, the smaller contingent of Lions fans were cheering just as loud as their counterparts.
Senior Moriah Rotors led the Lions with 15 points while fellow senior Olivia Christian finished with 14. Tvrdy was happy with the win naturally but even more happy with the first half of play.
"It was some of the best basketball we've played all year because we really looked for each other," Tvrdy said.
Sam Martin
