Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Levi Thygerson (33) makes a move to the bucket. Pima bounced Willcox, 69-41 on Wednesday night.
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – The Pima Roughriders (10-0 region, 18-5 overall) jumped all over the visiting Willcox Cowboys (3-6 region, 3-15 overall) on Wednesday and opened with a 15-2 run en route to a 69-41 victory. Pima sits atop the 2A East and is currently ranked No. 6 in 2A in the state.
“Overall, I’m really happy with the way we played tonight,” said Pima head coach Cliff Thompson. “We played four games in five days last week and I think it kind of cost us the Blue Ridge game. So, I think it’s good for us to not have to play our starters 25-30 minutes to ride out a win.
Pima did it from inside and outside and made 13 shots from 3-point land on the night, starting with the first shot by Kaleb Blair to opening the scoring.
Drew Thompson hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first period to extend the lead to 11-0 as the Roughriders finished the period on top, 17-4. Thompson would go on to hit two more triples in the third period and finished with 16 points.
The Roughriders were led by Tim Salyer, who nailed three triples on his way to a 21-point night – all done in the first three periods.
Coach Cliff Thompson began emptying his bench in the third period, and by the fourth period, the on-court presence was made up entirely of reserves.
The scoring didn’t slow down, however, as Kenton Skiba nailed two 3-pointers from the side and a bucket at the rim for 8 points on the night. Reserve Reggie Stewart had two triples in the second period to finish with 6 points, and starting point guard Alec Judd had 7. Reserve Wyatt Schmidt finished with 4, while Levi Thygerson and Jacob Brimhall each had 2 apiece. All but two players scored for Pima.
“It was fun,” Skiba said. “I got to get out there and play well. We got a team that we could try out new things on and then play well. It felt great to work hard (in practice) and be able to get rewarded for it. That’s the right way in basketball.”
“It’s nice to be able to play the subs,” coach Cliff Thompson said. “They deserve it too. They go to practice and work hard, so it’s nice to see them have some time out there.”
After a tough first half of only scoring 12 total points, Willcox made a go of it with 16 in the third period alone and another 13 in the fourth. Cael DeBaun led the way for the Cowboys with 12 points, followed by Rico Lunt with 9 and Ayden Fuentes with 8
“Sometimes when you have a big lead by halftime it’s hard to maintain your intensity,” coach Cliff Thompson said. “That’s something we’ve tried to ingrain in our guys that no matter what the score is we’re still playing hard.”
Willcox head coach Corey Downs said he was proud of his team’s effort throughout the game.
“That’s all I can ask,” he said. “As long as they play hard for the whole game to the end.”
Downs complimented Pima on its program and said they are well-coached and fundamentally sound.
“Hopefully, my kids can learn a lot from playing them because they play ball the right way,” Downs said. “Sometimes I become a fan sitting on the sidelines watching some of the things they do We gotta get better.”
The Cowboys will have their chance at redemption this Friday as the two teams will face each other again – this time in Willcox.
Additionally, as the Gila Herald reported after Pima’s victory over Thatcher on Jan. 14, the rematch in the Eagles’ roost on Feb. 6 is looming and will likely decide who takes the top spot in the 2A East for the regular-season champion.
Thatcher lost a triple-overtime thriller in Lakeside against the Blue Ridge Yellowjackets on Wednesday, 89-91.
The Eagles came back from a 24-36 halftime deficit to tie the score at 52 at the end of regulation. Each team then scored 10 points in the first overtime and 14 in the second before Blue Ridge edged Thatcher, 15-13 in the third overtime.
