Cienega

Hello basketball fans. Well, this was our crazy week with 4 games in 5 days. We went into this week at 4-1 losing to a pretty good Sinagua team, who should win their region, in the Semi-finals of the Winslow Shootout. Playing 3 straight road games after getting back early Sunday morning would be a task for anyone. My wish was for us was to win all the games but realistically if we went .500, I would be satisfied.

MONDAY 12/4 we played at Tucson High who was 0-2 and itching for a win. This team is pretty solid and Coach Lewis indicated that the guys were putty undo pressure on themselves to produce. Tucson High came out on fire, hitting on all cylinders against us. We ended up losing 63-55 but I was proud of how our guys battled. We just missed too many bunnies and did not block out well on the defensive glass. Jerrod Jung led us with 17pts on 8-9 shooting and Corey Lane had 13 pts.

TUESDAY12/5 we traveled to Rio Rico who was 5-4 and just reached the Championship game of the Boyd Baker classic losing to undefeated CDO at the time. This was the game that would test our mettle because we were at their place and this team probably plays harder than any team that we had faced thus far. They do not have a lot of size but they make up for it with heart. we had some calls go against us throughout the game but my guys kept their composure by scoring 25 4thQ pts. to win 70-61. Corey Lane led all scorers with 21pts/7 boards and pg JaMier Morris had 15 pts/5 assist. Jerrod Jung saved us with 11 blocked shots in the game. Again, we did not block out well, which would be the topic for Wednesday's film session.

WEDNESDAY 12/6 was film session in which we broke down tape to see where our weakness lies and where guys need to be when a shot is taken. I tell my guys like every other coach that rebounding is a team effort and not just for the big men.

THURSDAY 12/7 we traveled to Sahuaro in an early region game. This game was rescheduled from 12/15 due to a scheduling conflict. I did not like this at all, but hey, the game must go on. We talked about mental toughness all week to get through, but tonight was just one of them nights. Jordan Belobraydic came out on fire by hitting his first 3 shots(contested) from the perimeter and they never looked back, winning convincingly 66-49. Our guys looked and played tired throughout the game. We were only down 7 at the half and 9 going into the 4thQ, but that is when our legs started leaving us and we could not buy a basket, cause we definitely had the looks. You're just not going to win many games shooting 31%. After the game I explained to the guys that we have to come ready to play the next night against a tough Santa Rita squad who had beaten Tucson High and lost by 2 to a good Sunnyside team (both 5A) a couple of days earlier. Coach Ferguson scouted our game against Sahuaro along with some of his players. I just told my guys that I am glad he caught us on a bad night, because I do not expect us to play like that bad again. Corey Lane and Jerrod Jung led us in scoring with 11pts apiece and 6 blocked shots between them. Our guys knew that they had to get ready for the next night mentally and bring an attitude to the game.

FRIDAY 12/8 we finally are playing our first home game of the season and it was much needed. The key to this game would be Corey Lane as he stepped up as the leader tonight and willed us a win. Even in the mist of trouble, he kept our team cool and told the guys that we would get the W. We were up 8 going into the 4thQ, which evaporated too quickly for me with Santa Rita scoring the first 4 pts. I promptly called a timeout and told our guys to be smart but attack their press. We held serve with a 5 pt lead with less than 2 minutes left in the game. We then turned the ball over a couple of times which I would attribute to our young guards(Frosh and Jr.) late which let them tie the game up with 25 seconds left. I did not call a timeout due to my guys being in this situation before along with not wanting Coach Ferguson to change his defense. We were able to take the clock down to 5 seconds on the clock when JaMier decides to throw a lob to Jerrod. Needless to say Jerrod could not get a handle on it and a scramble for the ball under the basket found Corey picking it up and flipping it in the basket as time expired. We win 58-56. You know the saying I'd rather be lucky than good, well we were lucky because they had old mo on there side if we had went into overtime. We were good though through 3 quarters and lucky in the 4th. I was proud of how my guys stepped up to the plate and had a refuse to lose mentality. We were 6-8 on F.T's down the stretch of the game, which is where we lost a multitude of games last year. JaMier Morris was 7-8 from the line, all in the second half and finished with 12 pts/4 assist. Corey Lane led all scorers with 23 pts/13 reb. This was a big win for our program as we had never defeated Santa Rita in a regular season game the last 4 yrs. We did a better job of boxing out and pointed out some other things that need to be corrected in our film session on Saturday morning.

We only play 2 games this week (both at home), which are against a scrappy Douglas team on 12/12 and then a athletic team in Palo Verde on 12/14. Our record stands at 6-3 with our guys playing with a little more confidence in themselves. We will see how things go in regards to finishing up the first half of the season this week. I am looking forward to it and my guys are as well. Everyone have a great week!

GO CATS!!

Daron Cross

Cienega High Basketball

520-885-3461

520-271-3991

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Coolidge Bears

Wow, what a week! 7 games in 5 days with three more between now and Thursday. The week began as expected-with a battle. The two time state champion Fountain Hills came to town and our guys were up for the fight. We placed a huge emphasis on ensuring that #31 PF-Bunk didn't get any easy looks and that we kept close tabs on #3 PG Keating as to not allow him to penetrate with someone stepping in front to contest a pass or shot. To start the game, we did a better job than to be expected. Brad Jackson did a great job of finding and contesting everything that Bunk attempted ultimately limiting the best player in 3A to 8 first half points. Meanwhile Jesse Wheeler defended quite well limiting their second best player to 7 first half points. The rest of our guys came up big and played great weak side help that allowed us to take a 30-21 halftime lead. The frustration really was setting in on their behalf as we entered the locker room. The talk at halftime was not sit and be happy with a lead as the first four minutes of the second half would begin with a Fountain Hills flurry. Exactly what we expected occurred, Bunk got off with 10 third quarter points and the momentum had swung in their favor. Due to the flurry of buckets we toyed with using a 1-2-2 zone that ultimately allowed two open looks for threes for Alex Bunk that I wish I could undo. We pride ourselves in great man to man defense and when we switched to the zone we were unable to adapt. The third quarter momentum swing followed into the fourth and Fountain Hills would be the second team from the West in two weeks to leave our building with a win. We fought until the end but came up a bit short as we fell 51-47. If we ever solve that riddle that is the third quarter, watch out!

Later in the week, we would participate in our annual Coolidge Invitational. The event turned out to be a great one that we would eventually win but not without our fare share of struggles. Day one saw us handle San Manuel quite convincingly but to credit San Manuel, they fought until the very end with us coming out on top 86-47. Later that evening we played a very good Blue Ridge that won this event the year before. Foul trouble plagued both teams throughout with our bench being what I believe was the key to the victory. Jay Salcido was able to come off the bench and give us a spark and Sharod Peace came in and played some sound defense. With only a 6 point halftime lead after a last second three pointer by Blue Ridge, our goal was to come out and put a stranglehold on the third quarter. That is exactly what would occur as we scored 21 third quarter points. The fourth quarter saw Keith Shaw come alive with 7 points and seal our victory. In our third game of the tourney and last of our pool play we entertained a very well coached and driven team in Empire. It was apparent that talent wise we were a little better than they were but they have all the makings of a potentially good team. The kids are hard workers who aim to please. I have said this many times and I will say it again, this program is headed in the right direction. The final would end up being 89-30. The fourth game of the tourney paired us with South Pointe. We would find victory again but would be remised to not mention the play of the year-an alley oop from Jesse Wheeler to Brad Jackson from the three point line to end the quarter. It had me in awe for about the first two minutes of our halftime talk. If anyone has a copy of that film check it out! We would complete the win by a score of 77-55.

On the final day of the tournament, we played St. Gregory in the semifinal. They gave us all we wanted and more. Their 2-3 zone was tough and their big guy has great feet and moves. The game would not be decided until the final 3 or 4 minutes with us choosing to run clock and save legs for the championship against our rivals from Santa Cruz. The St. Gregory final would end up being 57-43. In the championship game, we came out as rusty as we ever have. The first quarter saw us putting up a whopping six points. The second quarter wasn't much better as we only put up eleven points. Entering the locker room, the guys expected a very vocal coaching staff however, that was not the case. We felt fortunate to only be down three points with us playing so poorly. Normally I am the most skeptical person in the world but something told me that Jesse Wheeler would take over in the second half and that is exactly what happened. He not only lead by scoring but by defending and distributing the ball. The fourth quarter saw us put up 22 points and complete our goal of winning the tournament. Damar White and Jamal McKinney would be named all tournament team and Jesse Wheeler would be named tournament MVP.

We are now 7-2 but it doesn't get any easier as we entertain Valley Christian at home on Monday and head down to Seton for our first conference game on Tuesday. Later in the week we host our second conference game as Globe comes to town. We have had a good week but understand we are not nearly where we need to be. The goals and expectations are high but will not be met if do not continue to gel as a team.

Coach Ben Armstrong

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Trevor Browne Basketball—Week 2

Monday: Two games this week, Dobson tomorrow and Tolleson on Friday. Kids are still sick, but tomorrow's a big game so we have to be ready to go. Last year they beat us by about 20 at their place and Mickey McConnell had 35 points. We've got to stop him from doing that and play strong inside against Kramer Knutson as well. Kramer has developed into a decent inside presence. Last year, he played little, but with Hagen gone, now is his time. We'll probably press, zone, man, and maybe box-and-one.

Tuesday: Game day. What a game!! We came out pressing and took a 13-4 lead. To their credit, they came back and at the half, we were up 1. In the 3rd quarter both teams went at it with intensity and after 3 they were up by 3 thanks to the outside shooting of Ian Wallace and Patrick Wolf. It looked like it would go down to the wire. Then, for a 3-minute stretch Ian Wallace took over the game. He hit 4 3-pointers and the back and forth struggle now showed Dobson up 10. We got it to 6 twice, but no better. We played our defense how we wanted, holding Mickey to no baskets (4 pts on ft's) and Kramer got 5 pts. Wallace was the star and we'll have to account better for him if we face up again. Katrell did a spectacular job with McConnell and Jones/Knutson never developed because Marcel was in foul trouble all night. Stacy Williams covered for him with 10 pts and 8 rebs and 5 blocks. Louis had 16 pts, but he too was in foul trouble most of the game. All in all (after watching the tape 3 times) it was a good game and they had the hot run that mattered. Now, we root for Dobson all year (power pts) and get ready for Tolleson.

Wednesday: No practice because we had no gym due to a JV Wrestling tournament. We watched film to see our positives and negatives from yesterday's game. I let them know that when we watch film together during practice time, we watch to see what we could improve upon and to see what we did well. NOT, to oohhh and aaahhhh at highlights. I show the game tapes at lunchtime to anyone who wants to see them for oohs and aahs.

Thursday: Practice for Tolleson. They are a short, scrappy, hard-working team. Tomorrow will be their 3rd game of the week. They lost to Chavez by 2 at Chavez and to Cibola by 2 at home on Tues/Wed. They mainly play 5 guards (like SDO in our region) and like to get out and run. We worked mainly on our ½ court motion offense. Specifically, how to incorporate the big men more. We're doing a fine job of finding Louis, Dre, and Mario shots, but need to get Marcel/Katrell/Stacy some more looks/touches inside. If we can do this tomorrow, it'll make our game a lot easier. Louis is still really sick and threw up repeatedly at practice. He's a warrior, though, and will do what he can to help the team tomorrow.

Friday: This game is a little more personal for our guys as Tolleson is another west-side team and many of our kids know their guys. We stressed coming out fast and hard and not letting them get confident playing against us. It seemed to work as we had a 25-13 lead after the 1st quarter. Louis had 15 pts in the 1st, so apparently we still weren't getting it inside enough. In the 2nd quarter, both teams looked a little off. With 1min left we got a nice alley-oop reverse dunk from Stacy Williams and 2 steals and 2 blocks to make a little run. We led 40-26 at the half. Louis had 21 pts, but looked/sounded horrible in the locker room. We praised him for his effort and then decided we'd try to take the scoring burden off his shoulders in the 2nd half. We again stressed the big men getting looks. Our goal was to get the 14 point lead up to 24 by the 4min mark. We did not want Tolleson cutting it below 10. This would have given them too much confidence on their home court and then who knows what could happen. Well…..the guys played a nearly perfect first 4 mins of the 3rd quarter and at the 4min mark we were up by 23. We got it there by hitting Marcel for 7 pts down low and Mario added a bucket. The big men really established themselves tonight. Now, it was time to turn it over to the bench. This was their first real action of the year and they responded admirably. Tim Lizarraga, Harold Gholson, Pedro Gonzalez, Edgar White and Tony Jackson along with Stacy at times did a great job. The quarter ended with a breakaway and Tim hit Stacy for his 2nd alley oop of the night. I let the bench begin the 4th quarter as well, but they quickly got sloppy/tired? They started fouling and Tolleson kept going to the line and hitting. Eventually Tolleson cut it to 10 and I went back to the starters. They got it back up and we won by 18. Louis finished with 21 pts (0 in 2nd half) and 10 rebs, Marcel had 15 pts 7 rebs, Stacy had 10 pts 7 rebs, Katrell had 7 pts, 6 rebs, 6 asts. And Mario Denogean again hit the double digit assist mark with 13. He had 6 pts, 6 rebs, 13 asts and 5 steals. He is our stat-sheet filler. Unfortunately, he also had 9 turnovers and was a little too out of control in the first half. He had a nice 2nd half though and has really stepped up as a leader for us.

**Tolleson plays in the Desert West Region which should be a wide open region this year and we wish them the best. They have some nice players. We've known about Angel Maldonado for some time. He's a solid pg. They also have Daryl Stuteville who is new to the team and Drew Burts who is also new to the team that can play hard-nosed basketball. And, while he didn't play well tonight for whatever reason, Shane Kozup is a nice talent to have coming off the bench. Some of our guys know Shane pretty well and he's a good kid. This team should fight with Sunrise Mtn, Centennial, Peoria, and Ironwood for the Region title.

**Marcel Jones is taking his official visit to Nebraska this weekend. I hope all goes well for him and he comes back with a clear idea of where he'd like to attend school next year. Currently his offers are from ASU, Oregon St, and Nebraska.

Next week: We only have 1 game next week. It is the beginning of the region play part of our schedule. We play Goldwater on Thursday at our place. Goldwater returns Lee Aames and Ross Williams from last year's team. Tuesday I may go watch SDO play. Haven't seen them yet and it would be a chance to scout them in person.

Good luck to all this week.

Coach Long

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