Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Mason Hoke shoots for 2 of his game-high 31 points as Jojo Ruelas defends. Pusch Ridge came into Safford and took over first place in the 3A East with a 62-60 victory.
Pusch Ridge knocks Safford off the perch atop 3A East
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – With images of Khalid Reeves going coast-to-coast in 5 seconds to help UA beat Stanford in 92’ going through my head, I watched as Safford guard Jojo Ruelas – with two other stars already fouled out of the game – took the inbounds pass with just 7.4 seconds left and the Bulldogs down a bucket, 62-60.
Ruelas dribbled up court and near the free-throw line, he crossed up Mason Hoke – who was the Lions’ top offensive performer on the night – and drove into the paint for a good look. Ruelas laid it up off glass over the help defense of Ben Lambe just as he had done all game. The ball came off just a bit too hard, however, and Juan Castano gathered the rebound to seal the victory for Pusch Ridge.
With the win, the Lions leapfrogged the Bulldogs for No. 1 in the 3A South by remaining unbeaten in the region. Safford fell to second and will face third-place Sabino, who just fell to Empire 75-76, on Feb. 2. Statewide, Safford is now ranked No. 17, while Pusch Ridge is No. 14.
The Bulldogs will next travel to Tucson on Thursday to face the Palo Verde Magnet Titans, starting at 7 p.m.
Safford 60 Pusch Ridge 62
In a way, it was somewhat surprising that Safford had a shot to tie or win the game on the last possession even though the Bulldogs had taken the lead with 5:20 left in the fourth quarter.
It was surprising because despite feeling like they were outplayed, they really weren’t. Perhaps it was the effect of the long ball –
Another item of special note should be the third quarter and how Safford held the explosive Lions to just six points. Pusch Ridge scored no less than 15 in the other quarters and had 27 points in the second.
Safford had the early hot hand and jumped out to a 10-3 lead off a Nate Quintero layup, Nephi Fox 3-pointer and a Brayden Bowman rebound put back.
The refs were lax on the Bulldogs’ side of the floor and let the teams play down low, with Bowman seeing lots of contact but few foul calls. For the game, however, it was Safford’s free-throw shooting that kept them in it, finishing 16-19. Conversely, Pusch Ridge shot just 8 free throws, making 3.
Where the Lions excelled was beyond the arc and whatever Mason Hoke was doing. Despite tough defense from several players, Hoke scored in numerous ways but was especially deadly from deep, where he connected for five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 31 points. As a team, Pusch Ridge connected on nine 3-pointers while Safford made just two.
A few Hoke scores coupled with a 3-pointer from Ben Lambe (11 points) set Pusch Ridge up to come back. Hoke then blocked Jojo Ruelas, which led to a fast break where Juan Castano scored an easy rebound putback to give Pusch Ridge its first lead as the quarter ended, 15-14.
The teams went back and forth to start the second quarter, trading buckets and a couple of Nate Quintero free throws tied the game up at 25-25 with about 5 minutes left in the half.
Then the Lions went off from deep as Hoke and Lambe hit back-to-back 3s to go up 6. Lambe added another and Hoke hit two more to go into halftime at Safford with a 10-point lead, 42-32.
Safford came out with determination in the third and that was immediately expressed by Nephi Fox (12 points) as he fought through the contact for the and-1 opportunity.
The Bulldogs used a tenacious defense to force turnovers and bit by bit they chipped at the lead until a Nate drive knocked it down to just 2 points with 1:35 left in the third. Again, Hoke answered for the Lions and hit a jumper to make it 48-44 Pusch Ridge after three-quarters of play.
Ruelas got two steals to open the fourth quarter and Safford scored three straight buckets to retake the lead, 50—48 with 5:20 left in the game.
The Bulldogs were set to increase their lead as Bowman came up with a big block. But Brayden went down the sideline against two Lions and lost the ball. That led to Isaac Hardeman setting up and knocking down the 3 to retake the lead for the Lions, 51-50.
The teams went back and forth with Catano hanging and hitting while shooting on the way down, and Ruelas (20 points) making a nice up-and-under move in the paint to take the lead, 54-53.
Ruelas then did it on the defensive side with a block and he then hit two free-throws to put Safford up by 3, 56-53.
But Hoke came right back down and nailed a dagger from deep to knot up the game at 56-56. The Bulldogs then had a big call go the other way with 2:05 left in the game as Quintero was called for an offensive foul on a drive.
With the ball back in Hoke’s hands the game didn’t stay tied for long as he hit another 3-pointer to go up 59-56. Then another big call went the Lions’ way with just 1:32 left on the clock when Nephi Fox’s 3-pointer bounced off the rim. Three Bulldogs went up with two hands each to gather the ball but Catano came in from the side with one hand and swiped the ball away, knocking it out of bounds. However, the referee saw it off the Bulldogs and incorrectly awarded the ball to the Lions. Another tough break at a tough time – any one of them costly.
Safford’s defense held, however, and Ruelas drove in for a layup to cut the Lions’ lead to 1 with 1 minute left to play. The Lions ran down the clock and then gathered the offensive rebound, which forced Safford to foul intentionally otherwise the Lions could run out the game.
Hoke hit his two foul shots with 25.4 seconds but Ruelas came right back with a nifty spin move and scored to make it a 1-point game again. Safford then fouled the player they wanted, Elliott Lovett, who hadn’t scored all game. Lovett went 1-2 from the line and it was just a 2-point game with 7.4 seconds and 94 feet to go.
That set up Ruelas for his Khalid Reeves moment, but the ball doesn’t always bounce your way, and Pusch Ridge came into Safford and left on top of the 3A East with the 62-60 victory.
