Maka Ellis drops 28 points as Sierra Vista nets ‘signature win’

Though it was the final game of the regular season for Sierra Vista’s boys basketball team Wednesday, coach Keith Ulrich still wanted one thing from his players before next week’s playoffs.

“We wanted to have a signature win,” Ulrich said. “We haven’t had a signature win against a Vegas team.”

Maka Ellis made sure his coach and teammates got it.

Ellis scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the third quarter to help his team build a 15-point lead, and Sierra Vista held on for a 66-53 win at Durango in a critical Southwest League game.

“He was special today,” Ulrich said. “When he makes shots, he plays at a superior level — outside of himself. He’s at a totally different level. He had a couple nice drives for some easy ones, and then he just had his confidence. He had that aura about him. Whenever he shot it, he was going to make it.”

Ellis made 11 of 19 shots and was 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. The junior scored the final eight points of the third quarter, including a long 3-pointer from the wing just before the buzzer, to give Sierra Vista its biggest lead at 52-37. The Mountain Lions’ defense did the rest, holding Durango to 33.3 percent shooting in the fourth.

“I looked at the scoreboard, and it was close, so I was like, ‘Dang, we’ve got to do something. They’re coming back,’” Ellis said. “So I just decided to bust my ass as hard as I could. It worked out. … Everybody was getting hyped (after). It was a hyped moment. It felt good because once I looked at the scoreboard after that, we were up by a lot more.”

Durango got as close as 59-53 with 3 minutes remaining, but went scoreless the rest of the way and missed four of its final five free throws.

“We knew we had to come in here and defend,” Ulrich said. “To hold a good playoff team, a top 10 team, to 53 points … I’m very proud of my guys for their effort.”

Ellis also had nine rebounds, five assists and three steals, and Maui SeraJosef added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Mountain Lions (13-13, 7-5 Southwest), who most likely locked up the league’s third seed while bumping Durango (10-10, 7-4) to the fourth.

The Trailblazers must defeat first-place Bishop Gorman on Friday to get the No. 3 seed for the region quarterfinals next week.

Demetrius Valdez led Durango with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow @af_ferguson on Twitter.