Ironwood Ridge's Chad Carter takes a shot over North's Shabaz Lewis during the 4th quarter of the Class 5A Division II boys basketball championship at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

GLENDALE – The fourth quarter in the Jobing.com Arena on Saturday played out more like an episode of ER than a championship basketball game.

For the Ironwood Ridge boys team, its season and hopes of repeating as Class 5A Division II champion flat lined when Phoenix North’s Robert Arvizu, who woke up Saturday with a 102-degree temperature and battled strep throat all week, hit a 3-pointer from the corner with three seconds remaining, giving his team a 42-39 win.

“It was slow motion,” Ironwood Ridge’s 6-foot-11 senior center Brandon Duliakas said of the game-winning shot. “His form looked pretty good going up. It was the perfect story, I guess . . . for them.”

Ironwood Ridge, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, was feeling good heading into the final quarter with a 34-27 lead and clear control of the tempo of the game. Then No. 2 North’s defense injected a heavy dose of half-court trap that a frustrated Ironwood Ridge offense couldn’t solve, scoring just five points in the final period.

On the other end of the court, North star Daniel Bejarano began slicing through the Ironwood Ridge defense with a surgeon’s precision, nursing his team back to health with 10 of his game-high 22 points in a three-minute span to start the final period.

When he followed his own missed jumper and tipped in an offensive rebound with 5:40 left, he tied the game at 36. His fourth 3-pointer of the game with 4:36 remaining put his team up 39-38, North’s first lead since it was up 15-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Then Bejarano collapsed from exhaustion with 2:41 remaining in the game, causing a several-minute delay after the University of Texas commit vomited on the side of the court and had to be attended to by trainers and coaches. After several minutes, he was helped to his team’s bench, took his jersey off and began walking toward the tunnel toward the team’s locker room before stopping at the end of the bench, taking a drink of water and deciding to return to the game.

“We tried to make things rough on him,” said Ironwood Ridge coach Brian Peabody. “We tried to tire him out, which I think we did. He came out for a couple breathers and we tried to make him work for every basket he made.”

While Bejarano didn’t score the rest of the game, thanks in large part to the strong defensive efforts of sophomore Tyler D’Amore, he certainly garnered all of the attention of the Nighthawks defense in the game’s final minutes, which left slow-shooting, but deadly accurate Arvizu wide open for the game winner.

“I was supposed to get it,” Bejarano said of the final play, “but they were so focused on me, and Robert was open. We’re a family and I trust every single one of my players.”

Duliakas, who scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the second half, was limited in what he could do on the defensive end of the floor after three first-half fouls sent him to the bench with 3:57 remaining in the second quarter.

“He’s a really good shot blocker and you could tell he was timid (in the second half) and didn’t want to go after balls he normally would go after,” Peabody said.

Hoisting the 5A-II championship trophy on Saturday afternoon was a vision Bejarano had played out in his head ever since playing Ironwood Ridge in Tucson early in the season.

“We had seen their (2008 championship) trophy at Ironwood Ridge and we knew it was ours,” said Bejarano, who scored 21 in a 55-52 win at Ironwood Ridge on Dec. 4.

That 2008 Ironwood Ridge championship trophy, Tucson’s first Class 5A boys basketball championship since 1982, seemed destined to get some company during most of Saturday’s game. Senior Chad Carter grabbed several key rebounds and got the Nighthawks going early by scoring all eight of his points in the first half. Sophomore point guard Lawrence Hampton was a thorn in North’s side throughout the game, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and scoring nine points.

But the Nighthawks offense sputtered with just five points in the final quarter – two Duliakas baskets and a Chad Arechiga free throw – as it simply couldn’t get past North’s half-court trap.

“I had watched some tape on them and had noticed they had some problems with the half-court trap,” North coach Joseph Bustos said. “I told my coaching staff that if we get behind, let’s go to the half court trap and it worked really well.”

It worked to perfection, even if Ironwood Ridge was expecting it.

“We knew they were going to do it sooner or later,” said Peabody, adding his team talked about expecting North to start the trap if they fell behind late.

“We knew it was coming, we just didn’t attack . . . You’ve got Bejarano at the top and that’s obviously scary when you have a 6-foot-6 athlete at the top of their trap. But we didn’t attack it.”

Ironwood Ridge finishes the season at 27-5 and winners for the second straight season of the 5A-II Southern Region championship. None of that seemed to matter much Saturday afternoon as a line of somber Nighthawks players slowly shuffled out of their locker room.

“Great game,” Peabody said. “Unfortunately somebody had to lose and it was us, but it was two really good teams that could have played any harder.”

– Reporter Christopher Veck contributed.

BOX SCORE

No. 2 Phoenix North 42, No. 1 Ironwood Ridge 39

(Class 5A Division II Championship – Glendale, Jobing.com Arena)

-SCORE BY QUARTER-

Phoenix North 15 6 6 15 – 42

Ironwood Ridge 14 9 11 5 – 39

-INDIVIDUAL SCORING-

NORTH – Daniel Bejarano 22, Robert Arvizu 8, Kwame Dailey 8, Shabaz Lewis 2, Chris Chairez 2. TEAM TOTALS: 18 0-2 42.

IRONWOOD RIDGE – Brandon Duliakas 14, Lawrence Hampton 9, Chad Carter 8, Chad Arechiga 3, Tyler D’Amore 3, Matt Walter 4. TEAM TOTALS: 15 6-8 39.

-TEAM STATS-

3-pointers: NOR 6 (Bejarano 4, Arvizu 2), IR 3 (Hampton 2, D’Amore 1). Team fouls: NOR 13, IR 12. Fouled out: D’Amore (IR).

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

Greenway High's Joe King (left) consoles Santa Rita High's Mark Simmons after Greenway beat the Eagles in the 4A Division II state championship game at <a href="http://Jobing.com">Jobing.com</a> Arena in Glendale on Tuesday.

GLENDALE – After losing the Class 4A Division II state title game each of the last two seasons and a third title game in 2005, the Santa Rita High School boys basketball team expected victory at Jobing.com Arena on Tuesday.

So when the Eagles found themselves bringing in the ball under their own basket with 1.7 seconds remaining, down just two points after trailing by 15 with less than four minutes to play in Tuesday’s 4A-II championship against No. 1 Phoenix Greenway, they decided overtime wasn’t an option.

Out of timeouts, Santa Rita star point guard Terrell Stoglin flashed to the right corner of the court, took a pass from teammate Dominique Kelley and easily got a 3-point shot off over the outstretched arms of two Phoenix Greenway defenders.

But Stoglin’s would-be game-winner sailed helplessly to the court, giving Greenway a perfect 30-0 season and a 60-58 state championship win.

“The whole fourth quarter I was nervous,” said Greenway’s Logan Ehrick. “. . . When we turned it over (setting up Santa Rita’s final play), my heart just stopped. I was scared.”

For Santa Rita, the miss forced another long drive home to Tucson with a runner-up trophy – a symbol that has grown more into a painful reminder of what could have been than a prideful consolation prize.

“It’s a burden. Really, it’s a burden and we have to carry it,” Santa Rita coach Jim Ferguson said of his team’s recent close calls in title games. “They say what a success it is to get here. I saw where Amphi (the team Santa Rita beat in last week’s 4A-II semifinals) was trying to get to its first state championship game since 1949.

“So it’s an honor and most teams are just thrilled to be able to compete in a state championship game. But for us . . . anything less than a state championship is disappointing and that is a difficult burden.”

For Stoglin, the junior star who has carried the growing Santa Rita championship expectations square on his shoulders for three seasons since taking the team to the title game as a freshman in 2007, the knowledge of being easily the best player on the court once again couldn’t override the agony of knowing he’s facing another offseason without a championship ring.

“It’s devastating, but I have a lot of heart so it’s not going to stop me from trying to come back to state,” said Stoglin, who scored a game-high 28 points and dished out six assists despite being the focal point of Greenway’s defense from the opening tip. “It’s my last year, next year and I’m just going to work as hard as I can this summer. I’m going to win it next year, guaranteed.”

Stoglin scored Santa Rita’s first 12 points and the Eagles trailed 16-15 after the first quarter. Greenway, whose last loss was to Santa Rita in the 2008 4A-II semifinals, used a patient high-post offense and a simple zone defense that frustrated everyone on Santa Rita’s roster not named Stoglin.

“I thought it threw them out of their tempo,” said Greenway coach Howard Mueller. “We couldn’t stop them early and (the zone) slowed them down.”

Santa Rita, which had averaged 82.7 points per game in three previous playoff games, shot 36.4 percent on the night. Stoglin was 9 for 22, including four 3-pointers. Other than Stoglin, no Santa Rita player had more than four points in the first half, although Andre Hatchett got things going in the second half and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Greenway led 50-35 with 4:04 left, but the Eagles came back.

Santa Rita stepped up the defensive intensity for the first time all game and rattled off a 15-2 run that pulled the Eagles to within 52-50 with 1:32 left.

The rally for Santa Rita, which traded baskets for Greenway free throws in the final minute, didn’t seem to be enough to numb the players’ pain.

“I told them nobody is going to question their heart, coming back 15 down with under four minutes left,” Ferguson said. “It was a valiant effort, but that just doesn’t help them out (right now).”

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

Top-seeded Dorados credit ‘team ball’

Canyon del Oro High School head coach Kerri Brown (holding trophy) and her team celebrate their Class 4A Division I state championship after defeating Tempe McClintock at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale on Tuesday.

GLENDALE – The Canyon del Oro High School girls basketball team finished its spectacular season with a win and the right to call itself champion.

The Dorados (28-1) defeated Tempe McClintock 49-45 in the Class 4A-I state title game at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena on Tuesday.

“I’m just beside myself; it’s great,” CDO coach Keri Brown said.

Sidney Lewis had 18 points and 14 rebounds, carrying the load for the Dorados.

CDO’s Nadi Carey had six points and six assists in her second consecutive trip to the final game.

Carey won the title in 2008 with Flowing Wells before transferring to CDO for her senior season.

“I already got my ring and I wanted it for my teammates,” Carey said. “I said that at the beginning and I say that at the end. I’m just so excited for them, honest to God.”

Point guard Charde Mayne, a transfer from Wisconsin, pitched in seven points and four assists for the Dorados.

No. 1-seeded CDO trailed for the last time at 14-13 in the first quarter. The Dorados took a 26-22 lead at the half and pushed it to 10 in the third quarter.

No. 2-seeded McClintock (21-8), led by Amy Patton’s 14 second-half points, cut the lead to four as the clock ran down, but the Dorados kept their composure.

“We knew that (McClintock) didn’t go deep; we know that they have one girl,” Brown said. “We saw her get tired and saw them trying to run everything through her. That is not what is going to win a championship game.

“Team ball is going to win a championship game. I think that speaks for itself tonight.”

Patton ended up with a game-high 24 points, but she was forced to work for it.

“(Carey) guarded her pretty much the entire night,” McClintock coach Eric Magana said. “Nadi kept her in front. It was tough for Amy to turn the corner on her.”

The Dorados dominated the paint with Lewis and Sarah Batterton (12 points), leaving little room for McClintock to work on the inside.

The championship is the team’s first since 1987.

Brown, who has coached CDO since 2002, had never advanced past the second round before this season.

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.CDO girls win championship

CDO girls win title; Santa Rita boys fall

The Canyon del Oro High School girls took a basketball championship Tuesday in Phoenix. Meanwhile, the Santa Rita boys lost in a finals match.

Producer: JUDY CARLOCK/Tucson Citizen

Slide 1 of 8.
Canyon del Oro head coach Kerri Brown and her team celebrate their 4A Division I State Championship after defeating McClintock High at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.
Source: The Arizona RepublicSlide 2 of 8.
McClintock High's Amy Pattontries tries to get around Canyon del Oro's Nicole Ruiz during the 4A Division I State Championship.
Source: The Arizona RepublicSlide 3 of 8.
McClintock High's Stefanee Perez passes over Canyon del Oro's Nicole Ruiz and Sydney Lewis during the 4A Division I State Championship.
Source: The Arizona RepublicSlide 4 of 8.
Canyon del Oro's Sydney Lewis grabs a rebound from McClintock High's Britney Dent.
Source: The Arizona RepublicSlide 5 of 8.
McClintock High's Carly Cotitta has her shot blocked by Canyon Del Oro's Sydney Lewis.
Source: The Arizona RepublicSlide 6 of 8.
Canyon del Oro head coach Kerri Brown greets her team after the 3rd quarter against McClintock High during the 4A Division I State Championship.
Source: The Arizona RepublicSlide 7 of 8.
Canyon del Oro head coach Kerri Brown celebrates with Sarah Batterton and Nicole Ruiz after winning the 4A Division I State Championship.
Source: The Arizona RepublicSlide 8 of 8.
Santa Rita High's Andre Hatchett and Greenway High's Zac Hamrick battle for a rebound during the 4A Division II state championship. Santa Rita lost.
Source: The Arizona Republic

GLENDALE – Terrell Stoglin’s difficult 3-point shot missed at the buzzer as Santa Rita High School fell Tuesday to Phoenix Greenway 60-58 – the Eagles’ third straight loss in the Class 4A Divison II state title game.

The Eagles used a 15-2 run to pull within 54-50 in the final 2 minutes.

Andre Hatchett’s 3-pointer from the right corner pulled Santa Rita to within 59-56 with 19.2 seconds left.

Stoglin finished with a game-high 28 points. Blaine Johnson led Greenway with 21 points.

Box score

No. 1 Phoenix Greenway 60, No. 2 Santa Rita 58

Class 4A Division II Championship

(Glendale, Jobing.com Arena)

Santa Rita 15 8 10 25 – 58

Greenway 16 12 12 20 – 60

SR: Terrell Stoglin 28, Andre Hatchett 17, Dominique Kelley 8, Roland Jones 5. Team Totals 20 11-14 58.

GRE: Blaine Johnson 21, Andrew Whitehead 10, Jon Hawkins 10, Zac Hamrick 8, Ryan Harper 5, Logan Ehrick 4, Cedric Pittman 2. Team totals 23 14-19 60.

Three pointers: SR 7 (Stoglin 4, Kelley 2, Hatchett 1). Fouls: SR 15, GRE 12.

Chad Carter scored 16 and Lawrence Hampton added 14 as defending Class 5A Division II boys basketball champion Ironwood Ridge beat Yuma 65-46 on Saturday.

The Nighthawks, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, move on to Friday’s 5A-II semifinals at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale. Ironwood Ridge will play No. 12 Phoenix South Mountain at 12:45 p.m.

In 5A-I quarterfinal action, No. 6 Sierra Vista Buena went on the road and knocked off No. 3 Mesa Mountain View 61-50 to advance to Wednesday’s semifinal in Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena.

The Colts outscored Mountain View 24-12 in the final quarter for the win. Buena got double-digit scoring from five players – Anthony Miller (15 points), Casey Mackin (13), Daniel Chavez (11), Derek Lane (11) and D’Che Milburn (11).

Buena will play No. 2 Phoenix St. Mary’s at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the 5A-I semifinals.

Tucson High School’s defense was able to hold the Mesa Mountain View girls basketball team to 28 points through the first three quarters Friday night in the Class 5A Division I quarterfinals.

Unfortunately for the visiting Badgers, the home team scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, erasing Tucson High’s lead and rolling on to a 50-42 semifinal win.

Tucson High ends its season 24-3, but didn’t go quietly. The Badgers led 33-28 heading into the final quarter. Christine Clark led the Badgers’ charge with 13 points and teammate Anyela Lopez scored 11.

Mountain View was led by 18 points from Jennifer Schlott and a 12-point, 12-rebound effort from Brittany Conger.

Wrestling

The Sunnyside Blue Devils will put their 11-year streak of state championship trophies on the line Saturday in the Class 5A Division II team championship at Phoenix Shadow Mountain High School.

Sunnyside established itself as the overwhelming favorite after last week’s individual championship tournament. Sunnyside has won 26 state wrestling titles.

Ironwood Ridge is seeded No. 3 in the 5A-II tournament, which begins at 11:30 a.m., with semifinals at 2 p.m. and finals at 6 p.m. Mountain View is the No. 7 seed.

In the 4A-I tourney, Cienega (No. 1 seed), Pueblo (No. 2) and Cholla (No. 7) will battle for the crown that Pueblo won in 2008.

Southern Arizona’s hopes in the 4A-II tournament ride on No. 6 Rio Rico and No. 7 Amphi.

The 4A-I and 4A-II tournaments take place at Peoria High starting at 10 a.m. for 4A-I and 11:30 a.m. for 4A-II, with championship rounds starting at 6 p.m. for both.

Boys basketball

Ironwood Ridge, the No. 1 seed in the 5A-II state tournament and defending state champion, hosts No. 8 Yuma at 7 p.m. Saturday in a 5A-II quarterfinal game.

The Nighthawks beat No. 16 Scottsdale Horizon 72-51 on Thursday in the tournament’s opening round.

Canyon del Oro's Nadi Carey, scoring against Phoenix Shadow Mountain in a game on Dec. 5, led the Dorados past Shadow Mountain again Thursday.

GLENDALE – She may be wearing a new uniform and playing with new teammates, but Canyon del Oro High School’s Nadi Carey is exactly where she was one year ago – helping to lead her team into a state championship game.

Carey, a junior on last year’s Flowing Wells state title girls basketball team before transferring this season, scored 12 points Thursday to help No. 1 CDO beat No. 5 Phoenix Shadow Mountain 50-31 in the Class 4A Division I semifinals in the Jobing.com Arena.

“Obviously I’ve experienced (a championship game before), but I want it more for my teammates,” Carey said. “I want them to get a ring.”

CDO was led in scoring by Nicole Ruiz, who had 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

CDO (27-1) will play No. 2 Tempe McClintock (21-7) at 6 p.m. Tuesday, also in the Jobing.com Arena. It will be the first girls basketball championship game for the school since the Dorados won it all in 1987.

As for Thursday’s win, the Dorados knew they had a game plan that would work after having already defeating Shadow Mountain earlier this year 52-42 at CDO.

“(We changed) absolutely nothing,” Dorados coach Kerri Brown said. “We played them once and we beat them by 10.”

The December victory came without the services of the then-injured Dorados senior Sydney Lewis, so CDO knew it was going to have even more firepower Thursday and was comfortable with what it would get from its opponent.

“We knew what they were coming with,” Carey said. “I’m glad we played them at the beginning of the year. It got all the jitters out.”

CDO never trailed Thursday and outscored Shadow Mountain in every quarter, including 19-8 in the fourth quarter. The Dorados closed the game on a 13-2 run capped by Ruiz’s second 3-pointer.

“We played smarter in the second half . . . doing the little things that matter,” Brown said.

CDO broke down Shadow Mountain’s defense with effective penetration and took 20 free throws in the game, making nine.

CDO’s Carey wants title ring for teammates

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

———

CDO title games

The Canyon del Oro girls basketball team will play in a state title game next week for the third time.

2009: Tuesday vs. Tempe McClintock

1987: beat Mesa High 69-53

1985: lost to Phoenix South Mountain 43-42

Defending 5A-II champions start slow then pull away to defeat Scottsdale Horizon

Rincon/University's Travis Timmons goes up for a shot in Thursday's 5A-II playoff game against visiting Phoenix South Mountain. Rincon lost 81-65.

Chad Carter scored 29 points to lead Ironwood Ridge High School to a 72-51 win over Scottsdale Horizon in Thursday’s opening round of the Class 5A Division II boys basketball playoffs.

“We started off slow in the first half but we knew we had to come out with more intensity in the second half and that’s what we did,” Carter said.

Ironwood Ridge, the tournament’s No. 1 seed and defending 5A-II state champion, struggled early but started the second quarter with a 9-2 run and took the lead for good when Tyler D’Amore hit a 3-pointer for a 22-19 advantage.

“We struggled out of the gate and this is always the hard one to play, your very first game in the state tournament,” Ironwood Ridge coach Brian Peabody said.

Senior Brandon Duliakas added 13 points for the Nighthawks.

Ironwood Ridge (25-4) advances to Saturday’s 5A-II quarterfinals. It will host No. 8 Yuma High.

“We’re definitely trying to get the repeat, there’s no doubt about that,” Peabody said. “One down, three to go, but every game is hard. Everybody in the state tournament is there for a reason. They can play.”

No. 12 Phoenix South Mountain 81, No. 5 Rincon/University 65: At Rincon, despite having two players post double-doubles, the Rangers couldn’t hold on to a nine point lead and fell in the opening round of the 5A-II state tournament.

Visiting Phoenix South Mountain used its quickness to pull off the upset and advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.

“It feels bad to go out like this,” said senior Travis Timmons, who had 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. “We knew going into the game that they push it a lot and we just couldn’t get back (on defense) enough. They outplayed us.”

Jose Ibarra (16 points, 12 rebounds) scored six straight in the second quarter to give Rincon a 25-16 lead. Gilbert Tafoya (14 points, 12 rebounds) was Rincon’s second player with a double-double.

“I thought early in the game we did a good job,” Rangers coach Rich Utter said. “Then we missed some free throws and we turned it over five straight times for easy scores.”

Rincon (22-9) tied it at 38 pulled with four minutes left in the third quarter, but it never got closer than that. South Mountain (14-14) was led by Shakir Preston’s 15 points.

Class 5A Division I

No. 6 Sierra Vista Buena 61, No. 11 Phoenix Brophy 52: At Buena, Anthony Miller scored 14 points and Derek Lane added 13 as the Colts advance to Saturday’s 5A-I quarterfinals at No. 3 Mesa Mountain View.

Class 4A Division I

No. 1 Phoenix Sunnyslope 69, No. 5 Catalina Foothills 56: At Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena, Catalina Foothills’ Michael Tringali scored four straight points early in the fourth quarter, capping a 17-point rally to tie the game at 45.

A Sunnyslope timeout and three Foothills turnovers later, and the Falcons found themselves down by 10 and watched as the top seed in the 4A-I tournament advanced to next week’s state championship game.

Led by 17 points from Connor Bailey, including four 3-pointers, and 11 from Tringali off the bench, Foothills made a game of it after trailing by as many as 14 points in the third quarter.

“This was probably our worst shooting game in two months,” Foothills coach Michael Steward said.

Sunnyslope was led by 30 points from Royce Woolridge, one of Arizona’s best players.

“We knew he was going to be good,” Steward said. “We knew he was going to be tough to guard, and we told our guys he was going to knock down shots. What hurt was when he missed, they got the offensive rebounds.”

Foothills, which lost to Sunnyslope in the 2001 4A semifinals, closed the third quarter on a 17-3 run. But Sunnyslope’s rebounding and 22 for 25 free throw shooting took the victory out of reach for Foothills.

Catalina Foothills finishes with a 24-7 record.

Sunnyslope will play No. 2 Avondale Agua Fria in Tuesday’s 4A-I championship game in Glendale.

———

FOUR TEAMS REMAIN

Four southern Arizona high school basketball teams remain in the hunt for 4A or 5A state titles.

Girls

4A-I championship: No. 1 Canyon del Oro vs. No. 2 Tempe McClintock (6 p.m. Tuesday, Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena)

Boys

5A-I quarterfinals: No. 6 Sierra Vista Buena at No. 3 Mesa Mountain View (7 p.m. Saturday)

5A-II quarterfinals: No. 8 Yuma at No. 1 Ironwood Ridge (7 p.m. Saturday)

4A-II championship: No. 2 Santa Rita vs. No. 1 Phoenix Greenway (4 p.m. Tuesday, Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena)

By Ash Friederich, Christopher Veck, Rodney Haas

HS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

Games are at 7 p.m. unless noted.

THURSDAY

4A-I girls semifinal: No. 4 Phoenix Shadow Mountain vs. No. 1 Canyon del Oro (4:15 p.m. at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena)

4A-I boys semifinal: No. 5 Catalina Foothills vs. No. 1 Phoenix Sunnyslope (7:45 p.m. at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena)

5A-I boys first round: No. 11 Phoenix Brophy at No. 6 Sierra Vista Buena

5A-II boys first round: No. 16 Scottsdale Horizon at No. 1 Ironwood Ridge; No. 12 Phoenix South Mountain at No. 5 Rincon/University

FRIDAY

5A-I girls quarterfinal: No. 6 Tucson High at No. 3 Mesa Mountain View

SATURDAY

5A-I and 5A-II boys quarterfinals: Games TBD at site of higher-seeded teams.

TUESDAY

4A-II boys championship: No. 2 Santa Rita vs. No. 1 Phoenix Greenway (4 p.m. at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena; Cox 7 television)

The Tucson High bench celebrates with just seconds remaining against Chandler Basha in their first round game in the Class 5A Division I state playoffs Wednesday night at Tucson High. Tucson High beat Basha 30-29.

After first battling back from a seven-point third quarter deficit, Tucson High School got clutch free throw shooting in the closing moments Wednesday night on its home court to win its first girls state playoff game in nine years.

RaTanya Newsome and Marisa Salazar went 2 for 2 apiece from the free throw line in the final 1:10 as No. 6 Tucson High held off No. 11 Chandler Basha 30-29 in the first round of the Class 5A Division I girls basketball playoffs.

It will be the first state quarterfinal appearance since the 2000 season for the Badgers.

“We worked hard for this. We deserve it,” said Salazar, a sophomore guard who gave Tucson High a 28-27 lead with her two free throws with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter, her only points of the game. “Free throws were the key. I got the steal and I was shocked. I got to the free throw line, I knew what I had to do for my team.”

With 43 seconds remaining, it was her teammate’s turn. Newsome, a junior, connected on both ends of a one-and-one to put Tucson High ahead 30-27, its largest lead of the night.

“It was an intense game,” Newsome said.

“We’ve practiced (free throws) all season long. Coach (Paul) Reed tells us that turnovers and free throws win games.”

Basha’s Kaela Oakes, who led her team with 11 points, pulled Basha within 30-29 on two free throws with 30 seconds to play.

Tucson High (24-2) had been averaging 59.9 points per game this season, but it was stymied by the Basha’s defense and scored just 11 first-half points on Wednesday.

The Badgers were led by eight points apiece from Newsome and Nalani Barnes.

“It feels good and I’m happy for the girls,” Reed said. “To be down by seven in the second half and not give up, was a joy to see.”

Things won’t be easy for Tucson High in Friday’s quarterfinals.

The Badgers play on the road at No. 3 Mesa Mountain View, a team that beat Tucson High 42-28 in the Martin Luther King Basketball Classic at the McKale Center on Jan. 19.

Tucson High has won 11 straight games since being held to a season-low 28 points in the Mesa Mountain View loss and has averaged more than 60 points per game since.

No. 3 Mesa Mountain View 48, No. 14 Sierra Vista Buena 27: At Mesa Mountain View, Buena saw its season come to an end with a 17-13 record.

Class 5A Division II

No. 3 Surprise Valley Vista 71, No. 14 Ironwood Ridge 45: At Surprise Valley Vista, despite finishing 10-13 this season, the Nighthawks won the 5A Southern II region championship as a No. 1 seed.

No. 6 Kingman 56, No. 11 Rincon/University 45: At Kingman, Marqusha Corley scored a team-high 16 points and Alyssa Mort scored 10, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the 37 combined points from Kingman’s Telsa Morgan and Lindsey Reed.

A 19-8 second quarter for Kingman extended a two-point lead to 13 at the half and the home team cruised in the second half.

Rincon/University ends its season 11-10 and finished second in the 5A-II Southern Region.

Tucson High's Christine Clark takes a shot as Chandler Basha's Kayla Peralta defends in the third quarter Wednesday night at Tucson High.

GLENDALE – When the game was on the line, Santa Rita High School’s star was at his best.

Terrell Stoglin scored 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s Class 4A Division II boys basketball semifinal, leading No. 2 Santa Rita to a 66-61 win over No. 3 Amphi at the Jobing.com Arena.

“The only thing that was going through my mind was to keep playing hard,” said Stoglin, who was less than his spectacular self through the first three quarters Wednesday. “We’ve played that team four times this year; we know what kind of team they are.”

The win moves Santa Rita into Tuesday’s 4A-II championship for the third straight season. Stoglin, a junior, has been the Eagles’ starting point guard each of the past three seasons.

The school also played in, and lost, the 2005 Class 4A state championship game.

For coach Jim Ferguson, it will be his fifth state championship game, tying him with his mentor, Dick McConnell, who had five title game appearances with Sahuaro+, winning four.

Ferguson coached Santa Rita to its only boys basketball title in 1999.

Wednesday night, while Amphi tried to erase a 47-40 deficit in the final period, Stoglin proved to be too much.

In the fourth quarter, Stoglin hit four field goals, including one 3-pointer, and went 5 for 5 from the free throw line.

“You know once he starts feeling it and gets a feel for a game, he is going to take over,” Ferguson said. “Even if two or three guys are bodying him, he is strong enough with the ball to just go by people.”

Amphi’s size and rebounding advantage, which propelled the Panthers to an overtime victory over Santa Rita on Jan. 6, wasn’t quite enough to get the Panthers to their first state title game since 1949 when coach George Genung’s team lost to Tucson High. Amphi (26-7) finished second this season to Santa Rita in the 4A Gila Region and, after the overtime win in early January, lost three straight to the Eagles.

A sloppy first half ended with Santa Rita leading 26-22.

“We looked cold, we were forcing everything, and we didn’t do a good job of letting the game come to us,” Ferguson said.

Amphi found itself trailing by as many as 18 points in the second half before a steady rally saw the final margin dwindle to just five points.

The Panthers were led by 25 points from senior Chris Johnson, who scored 18 in the second half.

Johnson (6-2, 180) was able to use his size advantage to force his way into the paint throughout the night.

Santa Rita was slowed from its normally frenetic pace – the Eagles averaged 91 points in their first two playoff wins – as Amphi was able to force Stoglin into bad shots and limited his room to work, holding him to only five points in the first half.

Stoglin’s teammate, Andre Hatchett, pitched in with 17 points.

Santa Rita (21-8) now moves on to play No. 1 Phoenix Greenway, which is 29-0.

Tuesday’s championship game will tip off at 4 p.m. in Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena and will be televised in southern Arizona on Cox Cable Channel 7.

High School Sports Editor Geoff Grammer contributed.

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FAMILIAR TERRITORY

The Santa Rita boys basketball team will play in the seventh state championship game in school history on Tuesday in Glendale:

2009: No. 2 Santa Rita vs. No. 1 Phoenix Greenway (Tuesday in Glendale)

2008: lost to Goodyear Desert Edge 40-36

2007: lost to Scottsdale Notre Dame 61-56

2005: lost to Glendale Apollo 60-48

1999: beat Phoenix Thunderbird 50-41 (OT)

1992: lost to Cholla 88-84

1979: lost to Phoenix St. Mary’s 94-72

1972: lost to Safford 73-49

Amphi's Lester Medord tries to drive past Santa Rita's Terrell Stoglin during Friday's game. The two 4A Gila Region rivals play Wednesday night at Glendale's <a href="http://Jobing.com">Jobing.com</a> Arena in the Class 4A Division II semifinals.

Should Santa Rita High School coach Jim Ferguson be concerned when his team faces Amphi for a fourth time this season in Wednesday’s Class 4A Division II semifinal in Glendale?

After an overtime loss to Amphi in early January, Santa Rita answered with two wins over the Panthers, including in the 4A Gila Region championship game Feb. 14.

“It’s going to be hard to beat them no matter,” said Ferguson. “The fact that they beat us the one time gets our attention. If you’ve beaten a team two straight times, it makes it a little more difficult but we’ll be ready.”

Amphi knows that if it can slow the run-and-gun Eagles, it has a chance at advancing to next week’s state championship.

“If we can take care of the ball on offense and slow them down in transition, we should be fine,” Amphi coach Ben Hurley said.

Turnovers have hurt Amphi, so ball control will be a key. Ferguson said Santa Rita’s key is concentration.

“As long as we come ready to play and stay focused, we have the ability and talent to beat any team in the state,” said Ferguson. “When we get hurt is when we come unprepared mentally. In our first two state (playoff) games, we’ve really been focused. I am pretty happy with those two games.”

Santa Rita junior guard Terrell Stoglin, looking to lead Santa Rita to a 4A-II state championship game for the third straight season, has averaged more than 20 points per game this season against Amphi.

Wednesday’s game tips off at 7 p.m. in Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena. The winner plays in the state championship March 3 in Glendale.

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

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STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

Games at 7 p.m. unless noted:

WEDNESDAY

4A-I boys semifinal: No. 3 Amphi vs. No. 2 Santa Rita (at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena)

5A-I girls first round: No. 14 Sierra Vista Buena at No. 3 Mesa Mountain View; No. 11 Chandler Basha at No. 6 Tucson High

5A-II girls first round: No. 11 Rincon/University at No. 6 Kingman; No. 14 Ironwood Ridge at No. 3 Surprise Valley Vista

THURSDAY

4A-I girls semifinal: No. 4 Phoenix Shadow Mountain vs. No. 1 Canyon del Oro (4:15 p.m. at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena)

4A-I boys semifinal: No. 5 Catalina Foothills vs. No. 1 Phoenix Sunnyslope (7:45 p.m. at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena)

5A-I boys first round: No. 11 Phoenix Brophy at No. 6 Buena

5A-II boys first round: No. 16 Scottsdale Horizon at No. 1 Ironwood Ridge; No. 12 Phoenix South Mountain at No. 5 Rincon/University

After three years coaching the Salpointe boys basketball team, the demands of the business world have forced Sean Loomer to resign, he said.

He posted a 48-40 record at Salpointe, including a 25-7 record in the 2007-08 season that included a Class 5A Southern-I Region championship and a 5A-I state quarterfinal appearance.

“It was a very hard decision,” Loomer said. “It’s very sad to go because we’ve got the thing going in the right direction.”

Loomer has two going concerns: a nutrition business and a prepaid debit card business named Yo It’s Me Inc. They will require him to be based in Phoenix, he said.

He also recently became president of the Basketball Club International, which runs camps and arranges exhibition games around the world.

Loomer informed his team of the decision Tuesday.

“There is a solid foundation there,” said Salpointe athletic director Phil Gruensfelder. “Sean did a great job the last couple years and worked real hard.”

Gruensfelder said the school will “sit tight” through the weekend and begin the search for a coach next week.

Loomer said he plans to coach the Arizona Premier club in Phoenix, the team University of Arizona men’s basketball coach Russ Pennell once coached.

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

PRESCOTT VALLEY – St. Gregory won its second consecutive Class 1A boys basketball championship Saturday night, and the second time felt much better than the first, according to coach Paul Baranowski.

St. Gregory’s 46-32 victory over Elfrida Valley Union at the Bradshaw Mountain High East campus boosted its final record to 35-1.

“It’s definitely better the second time,” Baranowski said. “Last year, we were kind of flying blind, and we kind of snuck up on people. This year, every team gave us their best shot.”

Senior guard Bennett Sawyer took over in the second half for St. Gregory, scoring all of his 19 points. The run included a 3-pointer late in the third quarter and eight free throws in the final 1:27 of the game.

A year ago, Sawyer watched in disappointment as he sat on the bench with a cast on his wrist for the second half of the season. He watched his teammates celebrate, but there wasn’t a true celebration for him until Saturday night.

Sawyer admitted he was nervous in the first half, “but the coaches pulled me aside at halftime and told me to keep playing my game. I was able to calm down and help the team. This feels great.”

Sawyer scored four points, Frankie Mgbolu four and Blake Gephart hit a 3-pointer to help St. Gregory gain some breathing room early in the fourth quarter.

The lead was 38-30 when Sawyer began his march to the free-throw line to keep his team in front. Sawyer also came up with a key steal to keep Valley Union (19-9) from getting back into the game.

Baranowski said both teams were nervous early because they played each other on a number of occasions.

“In the second half, we felt that if we were able to get a two or three-possession lead, we could spread the floor a little bit,” he said. “We have so much respect for Valley Union. They are a good team, and they gave us a fight every time we played them.”

Class 5A-I Southern Region Championships

Boys: Sierra Vista Buena 64, Salpointe 55

Girls: Tucson High 44, Sierra Vista Buena 23

Class 5A-II Southern Region Championships

Boys: Ironwood Ridge 67, Rincon/University 44

Girls: Rincon/University 43, Ironwood Ridge 32

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

Falcons advance to state semifinals for first time since 2001

Jubilant Catalina Foothills players celebrate their overtime victory over Cienega in the 4A-I state quarterfinals.

The Catalina Foothills High School boys basketball team has never played for a state championship.

Friday night, after overcoming an emotional, buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Cienega’s Mario Sanchez that forced overtime, No. 5 Catalina Foothills regained its composure for a 79-75 win at No. 4 Cienega, reaching the state semifinals for the first time since 2001.

“We want to be the best Foothills team in history,” said junior guard Connor Bailey. “We’ve taken two steps toward that and we need two more wins. That’s what we want. We want that state championship.”

Foothills, which had lost to Cienega by 14 in December, moves on to play No. 1 Phoenix Sunnyslope at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena.

Friday, the Foothills celebration was temporarily put on hold when Sanchez hit his 3-pointer, a shot that initially appeared to be a miss until it took a high bounce off the rim and fell through the net.

“When I saw it, I thought it was game over and I thought we had won,” said Bailey who scored a game-high 25 points. “But then we had to regroup and get our team back in and that’s what we did.”

Cienega (22-8) was led by 20 points from Brandon Burnett.

Class 4A Division II

No. 3 Amphi used an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to roll to a 58-50 win over visiting Gilbert Perry, the tournament’s No. 11 seed, in the 4A-II quarterfinals.

Amphi senior Chris Johnson and junior Malcolm Miller each had a three-point play in the deciding fourth-quarter run.

“Those were very big points for us,” Johnson said. “The first three quarters were tough. When the fourth quarter came, we had more energy.”

Johnson finished with 19 points. Sophomore point guard Lester Medford scored 12 points and dished out six assists.

Amphi will face a familiar foe, No. 2 Santa Rita, in Wednesday’s 4A-II semifinal in Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena. Amphi beat Santa Rita 59-58 in overtime on Jan. 6. Santa Rita has won the last two meetings.

No. 2 Santa Rita 93, No. 7 Scottsdale Arcadia 65: At Santa Rita, junior point guard Terrell Stoglin scored 27 of his game-high 36 points in the first half and Santa Rita’s 35-16 first quarter erased any doubt early in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Arcadia never closed to closer than 16 points after the first quarter.

Stoglin also dished out 11 assists and hit five 3-pointers in the win, which despite the 93 points was all set up by defense, according to coach Jim Ferguson.

“That’s just the way we play – we go from the defensive end to the offensive end as good as any team I’ve seen in the state,” Ferguson said. “We jumped on them early and we were able to score a lot in transition.”

Santa Rita’s Mark Simmons added 16 points and Andre Hatchett scored 16.

Class 1A Semifinals

After dodging a bullet with a two-point win in Thursday’s quarterfinals, defending 1A champion St. Gregory “put the fun back in fundamentals” according to coach Paul Baranowski and cruised to a comfortable 71-38 semifinal win over Williams at Prescott Valley Bradshaw Mountain High.

“We saw people smiling out there, and I didn’t see that the night before,” said Baranowski, whose team improved to 35-1.

Senior Bennett Sawyer scored 24 points and sophomore Frankie Mgbolu added 19 in the win.

St. Gregory plays Elfrida Valley Union in Saturday’s state championship in Prescott Valley.

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

By Geoff Grammer, Raymond Suarez, Rodney Haas