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Another hard night for local teams.

Six girls teams were eliminated Wednesday night and five boys teams joined them on Thursday. Ironwood Ridge, Rincon/UHS and Cienega fell in Division-I action and Douglas and Catalina Foothills lost in D-II.

Catalina Foothills was on their way to a first-round victory at home against Queen Creek but a difficult second period, a late turnover and a last-second basket ended their hopes and stunned the home crowd.

Oh, and there was this senior shooting guard who scored a career-high 28 points against the Falcons. Matt Jones had only scored more than 20 points twice this year and three times in his career but he became the hero after he stole the ball with 38.2 seconds left in the game.

Eddie Williams scored with 52.4 second left in the game to put Foothills up 66-64. Queen Creek turned the ball over with 47 seconds left but Foothills picked up their dribble in the backcourt and had a difficult time advancing the ball. Jones stole the ball, scored a bucket and was fouled.

He made the free throw and suddenly Queen Creek was in control, up 67-66 but it didn’t start out that way.

6-foot-8 senior Tolu Obafemi scored seven points and senior guard Robert Hollingsworth added six more to pace the Falcons to a 23-15 first quarter lead. Jones hit two of his six three-pointers to keep the Bulldogs in the game.

Queen Creek opened up the second period with an 8-0 run to tie the score at 23-23 with exactly 5 minutes left in the first half. Some missed layups inside proved costly down the stretch and the Falcons could not buy a bucket.

Foothills eventually found themselves down 33-26 at the half.

It took a team effort to get back in the game and seven Falcons scored in the third period to fight back to a 48-47 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Sophomore guard Austin Nehls got in the game with back-to-back three-pointers and the home team built a 64-58 lead with 3:30 left in the game but Devante Fox hit a bucket and then Jones hit another three-pointer to cut the lead to 64-63 with 1:53 left.

Foothills missed a jumper and Fox was fouled at the other end. He made one free throw to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:16 left in the game.

Back to the finish.

Jones put Queen Creek up with his steal, bucket and free throw but Hollingsworth went through the lane and was fouled with 31.3 seconds left.

Hollingsworth made his second shot to tie the game 67-67. Queen Creek worked the clock down to 13.7 seconds and called a timeout.

A play was obviously drawn up for Jones but Foothills had that covered. The broken play turned into a shot with about 3 seconds left that was easily blocked underneath but the ball landed in the hands of Blake Williams and he hit a wide-open short jumper as time expired for the win, 69-67.

It was the second year in a row where the team lost by two points in the first round of the playoffs.

Mark Felix led Catalina Foothills to a successful season in his first year and he brought renewed enthusiasm but he loses seven seniors to graduation including Hollingsworth, Williams, Michael Vogel, Andrew Magill and Obafemi.

Besides the 28 scored by Jones, Blake Williams scored 13 and Fox added 10 for Queen Creek.

Hollingsworth scored 14, Obafemi and Chaz Mack scored 13 each and Nehls and Williams scored 8 for Catalina Foothills.

 

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Buena was the only D-I team to survive on Thursday night thanks to 16 points from Marcus Mears, 14 by Kyani Dillard and 13 by Marc Matthews.

Chaparral stayed in the game thanks to 18 points from Joe Boyd but they acme up short 62-58.

(11) Buena travels to (6) Cesar Chavez on Saturday night.

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Nogales beat Casa Grande to advance in the D-II bracket.

Joseph Monreal scored 22 in the victory in front of college recruiters.

(10) Nogales will travel to (7) Paradise Valley on Saturday night. (3) Amphitheater and (8) Salpointe had first-round byes and will begin play on Saturday night also.

Both teams will host at 7 pm. Amphi will play (14) Cactus Shadows and Salpointe will play (9) Saguaro.

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BOYS

Division I

First Round
Thursday, February 16

(11) Buena 62, (22) Chaparral 58
(19) Mountain Pointe 53, (14) Ironwood Ridge 47
(12) Mesa Mountain View 66, (21) Rincon 50
(9) Brophy 62, (24) Cienega 34

Second Round
Saturday, February 18

(11) Buena at (6) Cesar Chavez, 7 pm

Division II

First Round
Thursday, February 16

(10) Nogales 83, (23) Casa Grande 63
(18) Queen Creek 69, (15) Catalina Foothills 66
(13) Sunnyslope 66, (20) Douglas 43

Second Round
Saturday, February 18

(3) Amphitheater hosts (14) Cactus Shadows, 7 pm
(8) Salpointe hosts (9) Saguaro, 7 pm
(10) Nogales at (7) Paradise Valley, 7 pm

Division III

Second Round
Friday, February 17
All games at NAU

(4) Thatcher vs. (20) Tombstone, 3 pm
(12) Rio Rico vs. (5) Window Rock, 1:30 pm
(16) Safford vs. (1) Holbrook, 7:30 pm

Division IV

Second Round
Friday, February 17
All games in Prescott

(1) Desert Christian vs. (17) Phoenix Christian, 3 pm
(3) Duncan vs. (14) Orme, Noon

GIRLS

Division I

Second Round
Friday, February 17
(15) Buena at (2) Highland, 7 pm

Division II

Second Round
Friday, February 17
(6) Flowing Wells hosts (22) Prescott, 7 pm
(7) Palo Verde hosts (10) Cactus, 7pm
(9) Pusch Ridge at (8) Liberty, 7 pm

Division III

Second Round
Saturday, February 18
All games at NAU

(4) Safford vs. (13) Camp Verde, 3 pm
(5) Thatcher vs. (21) Chinle, 1:30 pm

Division IV

Second Round
February 17 & 18
All games in Prescott

(3) Green Fields vs. (14) Scottsdale Prep, 10:30 am (2/17)
(8) Duncan vs. (9) Desert Christian, 1:30 pm (2/17)
(15) St. Gregory vs. (2) AZ Lutheran, 7:30 pm (2/17)
(10) San Miguel vs. (7) Ft. Thomas, 6 pm (2/18)
(12) St. David vs. (5) Joy Christian, 3 pm (2/18)

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