Pima defeats Fountain Hills 2A State Semifinals
By Jon Johnson
PHOENIX – Pima Boys Basketball Coach Cliff Thompson’s 28-year coaching career will end with a championship game.
The No. 1-ranked Pima Roughriders defeated No. 5 Fountain Hills 36-26 on Thursday at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the 2A Boys Basketball State Semifinals to punch their ticket to the state championship game on Saturday, starting at 11:15 a.m. The Riders will face either No. 2 North Valley Christian or No. 3 Scottsdale Christian, who play in the other semifinal.
It was a defensive first quarter, with Pima getting a couple of run-outs, including a nice long pass from Keegan Corona to Stratton McRae for a layup, putting Pima up 8-2 with 2:08 left in the quarter.
Charlie Richardson was active on the boards early and hit for more than half (6) of Pima’s early points.
A late turnover led to Fountain Hills’ second bucket of the game, but Tanner Smith found Charlie Richardson down low for an easy bucket to make it 10-4 at the end of the first quarter.
The physical play continued in the second as Fountain Hills collapsed on the entry feed in the paint, and Pima failed to score for nearly the entire quarter.
Fountain Hills had several shots on goal but only got two to fall in the first seven minutes of the second, both by big man Ahren Lloyd. Both teams rebounded well defensively, limiting the other to only 1 or 2 shots on goal per possession.
With just 34 seconds left in the half, Pima went for a two-for-one as Keegan Corona drove to the bucket, but his shot bounced out of bounds. Then, with just 3 seconds left on the clock, Pima inbounded underneath their basket to Corona, who lined up the 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Riders up 13-8 at the halftime break.
The teams came out in the third and finally got some offense going as Corona continued to hit and Fountain Hills got a couple of buckets down low.
Then Corona drove the lane and found Tanner Smith for the open 3-pointer to put Pima up 9, 23-14, with 3:09 left in the third. A Charles Richardson rebound outback followed, and the Falcons needed a timeout to talk it over.
The timeout didn’t help, as Corona found Richardson down low again and Pima nearly doubled up Fountain Hills, 27-14, late in the third.
Jamison Jacobs got left alone at the end of the quarter and hit an and-1 runner and the accompanying free throw to make it 27-17 heading into the fourth.
Pima added more beef in the fourth with Brendan Skiba getting some good minutes in relief of Joel Mattice. Skiba got a score down low, but Ahren Lloyd scored an and-1 bucket on Skiba, prompting Mattice’s return. But Lloyd then scored again to make it 31-24.
Corona let one fly to beat the shot clock that missed, but Mattice was there with the rebound put back to extend the lead just before the midway point in the final quarter.
Fountain Hills made it competitive late, but Pima’s rebounding spoiled their doom with second-chance attempts and the ability to run down the clock.
A Corona drive found Joel Mattice on the baseline for a jumper and his first field goal of the game to put Pima up 35-36 with about 1:30 left in the game.
Charlie Richardson paced Pima with 12 points, followed by Keegan Corona with 8, and Stratton McRae had 6 to lead the Riders.
