PHOTOS: http://andymorales.smugmug.com/

The MLK Classic has been played since 2004 with Tucson taking part beginning in 2007 under the guidance of the Tucson Unified School District.

Many of our best young athletes have taken part in this event in the past including, Sybil Dosty (Salpointe), Jerryd Bayless (Arizona), Brendon Lavendar (Arizona), Brooke Jackson (Arizona), Rachelle Federico (Flowing Wells/Cal), Christine Clark (Tucson/Harvard), Michael Perez (Pueblo/UTEP), Jan Maehlen (Ironwood Ridge/Pepperdine), Terrell Stoglin (Santa Rita/Maryland) and Aley Rohde (Arizona).

This year’s version proved no different with current and rising stars such as Tim Derksen (Amphi/San Francisco), Olivia Snyder (Green Fields), Joseph Monreal (Nogales), Asha Esprit (Rincon/UHS), Matt Bushman (Sabino) and Cameron Denson (Salpointe) to name just a few.

Six games were played in what amounted to over 12 hours of basketball that, not only counted for power points, but helped change the post season landscape.

________

The girls of Fort Thomas were the 1A runner-up last year. It is a program with two state titles to their name and a proud tradition to go along with it.

Green Fields is the smallest girls basketball program in the state of Arizona. 48 students enrolled with only six girls on varsity but, they do have a core group of girls who are making a name for themselves in the Division IV ranks.

Shooting guard Olivia Snyder poured in 28 points in the opener of the Classic but her points did not come in her usual way. Almost a third of her buckets come from beyond the three-point line but Fort Thomas took that option away so Snyder went to the basket and either scored or was sent to the free throw line.

“They were a very good defensive team,” Snyder said. “They knew where I wanted to shoot so I had to change it up a bit. I didn’t get as many calls as I should have but I’m happy with our game.”

While the Apaches were limiting Snyder to layups and free throws, the Griffins were limiting their opponents completely.

Fort Thomas missed their first 19 shots and first eight free throws of the game. Snyder, alone, had nine points in the first quarter, good enough to pace Green Fields to a 13-0 lead after the first period.

A good portion of those missed shots were blocks from Maya Holzman and Cora Beckett but they couldn’t keep Cassie Moses off the scoreboard forever. The senior finished the game with 14 points and she got her team started in the second period with seven points and limited Green Fields to three points from Holzman to cut the halftime lead to 16-11.

Snyder went off again in the third period and scored 12 points to put Green Fields comfortably ahead 32-16. Fort Thomas outscored Green Fields down the stretch 19-14 thanks to the play of Anissa Juan but Green Fields earned the 46-35 victory.

“This is probably our best win,” explained Holzman. “I was pretty intimidated and didn’t know what to expect coming in but everything we did worked to our advantage. They came out on us so we shifted to inside.”

Green Fields is now a perfect 9-0 in power point games and the only undefeated team in their section.

Holzman finished with 12 points.

________

The Sabino and Catalina boys fought it out in a game featuring two teams that are trying to make a name for themselves in one of the toughest sections in all of Arizona (D-II/S-I). That section features, Amphi, Nogales, Catalina Foothills, Douglas, Palo Verde, Salpointe and Sahuaro.

When it was all said and done, Sabino won their first power point game of the season (1-11), ending a very frustrating year and they evened up their record with Catalina (3-7) in the process.

Leading the way was sophomore Matt Bushman who put in 14 points in the first three quarters of play. Bushman is the younger brother of volleyball standout Maddie Bushman (Salt Lake) and his 6-6 frame and youth will only mean greater things for the Sabercats.

“It’s been a really tough year,” explained Bushman. “But we showed we have the mindset needed to win these games. We all played better and it will get better over the next couple of years.”

Sabino started out with a 14-0 lead before Catalina scored with 2:25 left on the clock in the first period. Bushman scored six and Wyatt Stamatopolous added five and Sabino ended the quarter up 19-6.

Catalina was able to nibble away at the lead a bit and cut it down to 26-16 at the half.

Sabino led 38-29 with 30 seconds left in the third before Catalina began to make their move. Three free throws by Anthony Adun and a bucket by Frankie Lopez had brought the Trojans within four points at 38-34 with 6:17 left in the game.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Stamatopolous and Alex Martin-Ross put Sabino back up 44-34 but Catalina was able to cut it back down to 46-43 with 1:58 left.

Ryon Rodriguez scored a bucket with 28.9 seconds left to make the score 50-48 Sabino. Sabino turned the ball over and Rodriguez made a free throw to make it 50-49 with 12.6 seconds left.

Kevin O’Brien was fouled but he only made one free throw for Sabino to put his team up 51-49 with 11.4 seconds left but Catalina could not get a good shot off at the end and that’s how the game ended.

Stamatopolous finished with 10 points and Catalina was led by Adun’s 12 points followed by 9 each by Lopez and Rodriguez with Fabian Enriquez adding 8.

________

The Sahuaro (8-4) and Ironwood Ridge (4-7) proved to be a very close and low-scoring game.

Chelsey Hunsaker scored nine points to lead Sahuaro to their eventual 24-21 victory but the Cougars needed every point they could get after Ironwood Ridge built an early 9-3 lead with 4:40 left in the second quarter.

Sahuaro tied the game up at 11-11 with 2:12 left in half but Trenna Olson hit a three-pointer to put Ironwood Ridge up at the half 14-11.

The teams would battle to a 17-17 tie after three periods and Hunsaker would score with 1:30 left in the game to keep it tied 21-21.

Ironwood Ridge took the ball inside where Taylor McNamara came up with the defensive sequence of the game with blocked shot underneath and a resulting foul by Ironwood Ridge that sent her to the line at the other end with a chance to win the game.

McNamara made the first free throw to put Sahuaro up 22-21 with 19.9 seconds left. It was only Sahuaro’s second lead of the game and first lead of the second half and it was all Sahuaro needed.

Hunsaker made two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to give Sahuaro their final margin.

“I just wanted to win this games,” explained McNamara. “I didn’t care if I fouled her or blocked hr shot I just knew she couldn’t score on us. Then, I was really, really anxious on my free throws. It was intense.”

Jaime Holliday scored six points for Sahuaro and McNamara added four while Kristen Dohm led Ironwood Ridge with nine.

Sarah O’Keefe scored four points for the Nighthawks.

________

The boys of Mountain View (6-3) and Tucson (1-8) took to the court next where Mountain View came out on top 49-33.

Tucson took a 14-8 lead after the first period but Mountain View held them to just two points in the second period to cut the lead to 16-15 at the half.

Abdul Hameed only had five points at the half for Mountain View but he came up big with seven in third period to keep his team in the hunt. He was joined by Zack Carter underneath and his 16 points.

“I have to thank the ‘Bigs’ underneath for opening things up for me,” said Hameed. “I made some shots because it was open for me and it came from a lot of hard work on defense and my guys finding me for an outlet pass.”

Mountain View slowly pulled away and outscored Tucson 23-8 in the fourth period. Hameed wound up with 20 points to lead Mountain View.

“This has to be my most favorite team at Mountain View,” added Hameed. “These guys are as close to my family as you can get.”

Damien Sanchez scored nine points for Tucson and Zachary Weathers added eight.

________

The Rincon/University High boys (7-4) gave Nogales (11-0) everything they could handle for about 30 minutes before the Apaches pulled away at the end to win 69-57.

The Apache duo of Joseph Monreal (16 points) and Cesar Solis (17 points) proved they came to play but so did Ranger standouts Asha Esprit (20 points) and Michael Miranda (17 points).

Solis only had four points at the half but he came on strong to finish the game. “I let the game come to me,” he said.

“We just needed to be the best team at the end. Rincon played great defense and they made us work for everything. We had to work harder,” Solis added.

Nogales only found themselves up 15-10 after the first period and up 26-25 at the half. Esprit had 10 points for the Rangers and Hasan Tucker had six to keep them in the game.

Solis scored six of his own in the third period and Bryan Cervantes added his own six. Esprit and Miranda scored six each also but Nogales pulled away to go up 49-40.

Monreal hit a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter off but Rincon went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead down to 52-49 with 4:10 left in the game. Esprit scored four, Miranda scored and Fred Cox hit a three-pointer to fuel the run.

Andres Marquez scored to end Rincon’s run but Miranda was fouled while shooting a three-pointer and he made all three shots to pull within 53-52 with 3:38 left in the game.

It was Miranda’s fourth three-point scoring play of the game.

That was it. Solis took over and scored seven points down the stretch and Marquez added four and Monreal hit a deep three-pointer to seal the 69-57 victory.

Francisco Meza added nine points for Nogales and Marquez finished with seven. Tucker and Dylan Hidalgo scored seven each for Rincon.

________

When people talk about Amphitheater (12-1) they usually go to guys such as Tim Derksen, Tony Lillard or Charles Benson. They are the senior leaders who carry the Panthers from headline to headline. But, if you study the team, you will see they are much more.

“The game was pretty tough and we needed the other guys,” said Benson. “Everyone points to us but we win and lose as a team and guys like Donald (Selig) stepped up and we needed that. If you notice we play all of our guys and it pays off.”

And it does.

Selig scored nine points in Amphi’s 73-57 win and, even though it doesn’t quite compare to the 15 put in by Benson, the 16 by Derksen or the 19 by Lillard, Selig scored his points when Salpointe (7-3) was making a run at the Panthers.

Lillard and Derksen scored six points each in the opening quarter but Salpointe was only down 16-15. Cameron Denson scored seven of his 17 points in the second quarter to keep the Lancers in the game but Selig matched him with his own seven points, including a three-pointer to give Amphi an eight point lead at one point.

“I felt like I was contributing,” explained Selig. “We had a hard fight and we stuck to it.”

Salpointe was only down 34-30 at the half and Derksen had scored 13 of his points but eight Lancers had scored to make it a game and then Denson sank 10 points in the third period to bring Salpointe to within 49-48 entering the fourth period.

Lillard and Benson took over from their with Lillard draining nine more points and Benson adding 10. Amphi had too many weapons and too many subs to help carry the team through the middle of the game and it allowed the big names to start and finish the game, 73-57.

Cory Carver added 10 for Salpointe Talbott Denny scored eight.

NOTES

Scouts from the Pima boys and girls teams were in the stands along with coaches from Eastern Arizona.

Even though it had a “holiday” tournament atmosphere, each game counted towards power points.

Nogales and Salpointe brought their bands although it appeared Nogales brought their “football” crew with a full band, cheer squads and a significant number of fans. No other school could match it.

12 people were honored with MLK spirit awards from each participating school.

Amphi: Ron Gerhart.
Catalina: Susan Curtis.
Fort Thomas: Allen Goseyun.
Green Fields: Maya Holzman.
Ironwood Ridge: Dee Dinota.
Mountain View: Stacey Hackett.
Nogales: Elizabeth Turner.
Rincon/UHS: Celia Beltran.
Sabino: Bruce Williams.
Sahuaro: Becky Fajardo.
Salpointe Catholic: Mike Urbanski.
Tucson: Dale Lopez.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 10:13 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.