Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Sam Ray fights for position against Joey Seballos. Pima defeated Morenci on Thursday night, 52-41.
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – It was a playoff-type atmosphere for a couple of playoff-type teams on Thursday when the Morenci Wildcats came down to Pima to battle the surging Roughriders. Pima held court after a blistering fourth quarter to defeat Morenci 52-41 and flip spots in the 2A East.
“We knew we were going to come into a dogfight,” said Morenci head coach Rueben Leonard. “It’s a region game. (The) 2A East is really tough no matter who it is.”
Pima (6-0 region, 6-1 conference, 11-6 overall) now stands atop the 2A East Region with Morenci (6-1 region, 8-1 conference, 18-3 overall) in second place. It was the Wildcats’ second loss to a 2A team this year, after previously beating Pima in the 60th annual EA Boys Holiday Basketball Tournament, 52-45, on Dec. 29. Morenci’s other two losses this year have been to the 2A North Round Valley Elks, 60-68, on Dec. 8, and to the 3A South Thatcher Eagles during the holiday tournament, 52-58, on Dec. 28.
“Lot of credit to Morenci for how hard they play,” said Pima head coach Cliff Thompson. “They made things extremely hard for us in the fourth quarter – lots of double teaming and they’re just flying around very aggressive.”
Pima 52 Morenci 41
The defense was key throughout, not only to build Pima’s lead but to instigate Morenci’s comeback attempt. Despite Pima holding Morenci to just one field goal in both the second and third quarters, the Wildcats utilized a full-court press to claw their way back to being down just 4 points with 1:54 left in the game.
“I really feel like we did an excellent job defensively in this game,” Cliff Thompson said. “We gave up 41 points and I think a lot of those were not so much our defense but turnovers that we turned the ball over that turned into points at the other end. I feel like when we’re locked in in the half-court defense we can really still play some really good defense. We just gotta quit turning the ball over so much.”
Keegan Corona wouldn’t let the game slip away and hit his free throws down the stretch on his way to a game-high 25 points in the victory.
“Tonight we wanted the revenge from the college tourney and we came out tonight more aggressive,” Corona said. “We didn’t turn it over more and we finished the game this time.”
There were a lot of foul calls for the game; Pima attempted 28 free throws, making just 13, and Morenci shot 16-25 from the charity stripe.
While both teams started slow, Corona was hot from the get-go and outscored Morenci in the first quarter by himself. He hit a runner in the lane, a 3-pointer, did a spin move where he finished through contact for the and-1 play, and completed the free throw to help put Pima up 15-6 at the end of the first.
“Pima is a good, well-coached team,” Leonard said. “We knew what we had to bring. We brought it. We didn’t make a couple of shots. We missed a couple of layups and a lot of free throws. We clean those up and it’s a little bit different.”
The defense picked up in the second quarter and both teams had only one field goal each in the period with Tristen Sanchez (15 points) hitting a jumper for Morenci and Clark Ashby (8 points) scoring on a drive for Pima.
The difference in the quarter was Morenci made 7 free throws compared to just 1 made free throw for Pima.
But Morenci might have been shorted one possession. There was a clock issue at the end of the first half, and the referee corrected it to show 7.3 seconds with Morenci inbounding the ball under their own basket.
Rhett Hughes got a piece of the pass and Riley Alder gathered it and took it to the hole but the shot went off the backboard and was ruled out of bounds by Pima. The clock didn’t begin when the ball was inbounded, however, and still showed 7.3 seconds. The referee then called it for halftime, however, upon video review with a stopwatch, the entire sequence from the time Alder intercepted the pass to when the official blew his whistle to stop the clock for the ball going out of bounds took 5.3 seconds. So, Morenci should have been given the ball back with 2 seconds left underneath their own basket.
The Riders got it going from jump in the third, as Sam Ray (4 points) took advantage of his size down low for the score. Ray would quickly score again off a good entry pass as his defender mistakenly fronted him.
Yedidia Laputa didn’t score for Morenci but he played tough defense and had a couple of blocks. His time was limited by foul trouble, however, and he sat with about six minutes left in the third after picking up his fourth foul.
The front-court players for Pima had success in the third quarter with Ashby finishing it off with a drive over Sanchez and an offensive rebound put back to help Pima take a commanding 33-19 lead into the final quarter of play.
That’s when Morenci intensified their defense and the full-court press led to points off turnovers. Christopher Lopez scored an easy bucket off a miscommunication by Pima, and Sanchez came out of nowhere to launch and drill two 3-pointers back-to-back.
In previous years it was Miller time, but now it’s all about the Corona as Keegan took control in the fourth and went for 13 points in the quarter to help keep the Wildcats at bay.
“Hat’s off to Pima,” Leonard said. “They played hard. They’re a tough team. They are going to do well in the playoffs.”
However, turnovers kept the game close and Joey Seballos (4 points) snatched a loose ball and took it the other way for the score. A couple of Adrian McCallum (7 points) free throws later and Pima was tenuously holding on to just a 4-point lead, 42-38, with 1:54 left in the game.
Some big plays then happened in quick succession. First, Corona broke the press and found Russell (9 points) for the layup. Then, after going back downcourt on defense, Russell took a charge to turn the ball back over to Pima.
“We were able to beat some of their pressure and get some easy buckets and knocked down enough free throws,” Cliff Thompson said. “We do practice free throws even though it doesn’t seem like we do sometimes. But we gotta do a better job in those types of situations.”
Both teams then exchanged free throws, two by Corona for Pima and two by Seballos for Morenci, and Morenci intentionally sent Ashby to the line with 49.6 seconds to play down 46-40.
Ashby missed both free throws but Pima got the rebound and Morenci intentionally fouled Russell, who hit 1-2 to put Pima up 47-40 with 42.1 seconds left.
Tristen Sanchez then went to the line and made his first foul shot. Sanchez missed his second shot and Riley Alder went up for the rebound. Derick Lytle then went for the steal and collided with Alder, sending both tumbling to the court.
During the fall, Lytle’s left elbow struck Alder’s nose and knocked his head onto the court, causing significant blood from his nose to be displaced on the hardwood.
As Alder went to clean himself, the referees called a flagrant foul and Morenci head coach Rueben Leonard voiced his difference in opinion in such a way that the referee gave him a technical foul with 40 seconds left in the game.
Pima then sent Isaac Thompson to shoot the technical foul. Thompson went 1-2, and then Corona went 1-2 shooting for Alder, who was not available due to injury.
The flagrant call also gave Pima the ball back and Morenci intentionally fouled Corona, who hit both shots this time with only 30 seconds left in the game. So, the aftermath of the missed Sanchez free throw ended up costing Morenci 4 points.
Morenci head coach Leonard said his team was just playing at full tilt and the collision was accidental and shouldn’t have been called flagrant.
“We’re trailing the play, the kid stops (and) they run into him,” Leonard said of the flagrant foul. “It’s a hard foul for sure but in our eyes in what we teach it’s nothing dirty, it’s nothing malicious, it’s just playing hard. The refs seen it a little bit different and that’s fine. We know what we teach and believe, so we’re good with the outcome and whatever happened is over with and we’ll move past it.”
After Corona’s free throws, Morenci missed a 3-point attempt and had to foul Corona again after Russell corralled the defensive rebound and got the ball to Keegan with 18 seconds left on the clock. Corona made 1-2 of his final free throws and Pima walked off with the victory, 52-41.
“It means a lot to beat the number 4 or 3 ranked team and keep our region undefeated for us and it means a lot to us and (we) got it done,” Corona said. “It was a great win for us. (We) worked hard. It means a lot to all of us to get the win. We got a hard game next week Monday against Safford, and we’re gonna just keep improving from here.”
On Friday, the updated rankings listed Morenci down to No. 5 with Pima at No. 6.
Pima will travel to face a red-hot Safford (3-0 region, 4-0 conference, 13-4 overall) team atop the 3A South Region. The game is set for Monday, starting at 7 p.m.
Morenci bounced back Friday night and came away with an 82-24 victory over Tombstone at home.
The Wildcats will next go on the road to Willcox on Tuesday, Jan. 16, for a match with the Cowboys (2-4 region, 2-6 conference, 7-12 overall) starting at 7 p.m.
“We’re going to get better,” Leonard said after the Pima game. “We’ll be back and we’re ready to make a run.”
