By Jon Johnson
THATCHER – The No. 12 Florence Gophers (11-7 conference) utilized a 29-point opening first quarter en route to an 88-80 victory over the No. 5 Thatcher Eagles on Tuesday to end Thatcher’s season.
Florence will now play No. 4 Seton Catholic Prep on Friday, Feb. 20, starting at 7:30 p.m. at Chandler Preparatory Academy in the quarterfinals of the 3A State Playoffs.
Florence was led by Brody Ramirez, who hit 22 of his game-high 34 points in the first half. Ramirez finished with three 3-pointers and was 8-9 from the charity stripe.
Thatcher’s Wade Hull finished with a team-high 25 points with six 3-pointers in an effort to keep up with the Gophers.
The teams went back and forth to start the game, and Hull’s second 3-pointer gave Thatcher an early 13-11 lead.
However, after a scramble for a loose ball, Aaden Silvas picked it up and scored to start an 18-3 run for the Gophers for the rest of the first quarter to go up 29-18.
The Eagles came back in the second period, partly behind tough interior play from Isaac Palmer, who finished with 17 points, and the defense and overall play from Chad Johnson, who finished with 14 points. After a Palmer rebound put back and a Johnson drive, Florence went for the steal, and Wade Hull made them pay by drilling an open 3 to cut the deficit to 8 points.
Things got a little chippy between Hull and his counterpart, Aaden Silvas, and they were both given flop warnings on consecutive possessions.
Brody Rodriguez calmed things down for the Gophers, however, and drilled his pull-up jumper at the buzzer to put Florence up 48-35 at the half.
The Gophers continued to build on their lead in the third quarter behind transition buckets. Twice, Rodriguez rebounded the ball and threw full-court passes to open teammates for fast-break layups. The play might have inspired JayLeon Way (12 points), who had a similar play in the quarter when he hit Chad Johnson in stride with the three-quarter court pass.
Way also hit on a drive to the basket at the end of the third to make it 68-49 with one quarter left to play.
Standing in the opponents’ section of the bleachers, the mood was high as the fourth quarter began, but fans began to become antsy down the stretch as Thatcher made a run.
Palmer continued to Boulevard Glass’ main man as he cleaned up the misses and put them back, and found help from Bronson Stringfellow, who hit two 3’s in the quarter, and Chad Johnson, who snatched a rebound out of the air and put it back up for the score before coming back down to earth.
After that play, Rodriguez tapped Johnson on the head with the ball – perhaps out of frustration or by accident – but it didn’t go unnoticed by the referee, who called him for the technical foul.
And then later, after Palmer got a foul call on a rebound put-back attempt, Soldeir Blouir expressed his displeasure and received a technical foul as well.
The free throws cut Florence’s lead to 10 with 2:41 left to play, but the Gophers ran down the shot clock, and then Stephen McCauley drove the lane and dropped off a no-look pass to Soldier Blouir for the layup.
Stringfellow then hit his second 3-pointer, but Florence broke the press defense for an easy bucket and held off Thatcher 88-80 to advance to the second round.
In other boys’ prep basketball playoff action:
In 1A, the No. 1 Fort Thomas Apaches defeated No. 16 BASIS Flagstaff 76-43 on Tuesday in the 1A State Playoffs opening round. The Apaches will now play No. 9 Mogollon on Friday, Feb. 20, starting at 7 p.m. at Canyon View High School at 6024 N. Perryville Rd. in Waddell (Buckeye).
In 2A, the No. 1 Pima Roughriders had a bye on Tuesday and will host No. 8 Mohave Accelerated on Friday, Feb. 20, starting at 7 p.m.
No. 7 San Carlos defeated No. 10 Rancho Solano Prep 58-48 on Tuesday and will play No. 2 North Valley Christian at Greenway High School on Friday, Feb. 20, starting at 7 p.m.
