TRI-STATE CLASSIC: Diamondbacks protect home floor in semifinal win

As host of the Tri-State Holiday Classic, Desert Oasis had one goal: to defend its home court.

After a 76-50 win over Cibola (Ariz.) in the semifinals on Tuesday, the Diamondbacks are one win from fulfilling that goal.

"We don't want anybody to win on our home court," said senior forward Aamondae Coleman, who led Desert Oasis with 23 points. "It doesn't matter who is in the championship game across from us, we're going to go out there and give it our best. We're going to come out tomorrow and give it our all."

It might be difficult to duplicate their effort against Cibola, as the Diamondbacks shot 52.3 percent from the floor, hitting 33 of 63 field goal attempts, including six 3-pointer. At the other end of the court, Desert Oasis' man-to-man defense frustrated the Raiders, who finished the game hitting just 18 of 54 (33.3 percent) from the floor.

"We knew they had a tough game earlier against Mountain View (UT) ... so coming out from the get-go was huge for us," Desert Oasis coach Ryan Fretz said.

Desert Oasis shook off a sluggish start early on and erupted on a 12-0 run on the strength of Coleman's hot hand. The 6-foot-5-inch senior scored 10 in the opening period as the Diamondbacks finished the first quarter on a 20-2 run to take a 23-9 lead.

The Diamondbacks were 9-for-16 from the field in the first quarter, including four 3-pointers.

The momentum spilled over into the second quarter, as their man-to-man defense continued to frustrate Cibola, which was 3 of 10 from the floor, while Desert Oasis connected on 8 of 14 to take a 43-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

"We knew we had to get off to a good start, because there have been games we got down big early, and we knew we couldn't do that against this team," Coleman said. "We stepped up at the beginning and kept it up throughout the game. They made a little run in the third quarter, and coach told us they would cause they're a good team and they're not gonna give up. But we backed that run up and played hard throughout the game."

Sophomore Jacob Heese had 17 points, and teammate Dervin Cannon scored 15 for Desert Oasis.

Shadow Ridge 76, Silverado 65 — The Mustangs used their fast-paced offense to get past Silverado's full-court press early on, and built a 20-point lead in the second half en route to their semifinal win.

Jerell Springer and Nick Blake each scored 17 to lead the Mustangs. Isaiah Williams added 12 for Shadow Ridge, which plays Desert Oasis in the championship game at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

"At the beginning of the season we were still down on ourselves because we were still trying to learn and figure everything out," said Shadow Ridge assistant Paul Blair, who is filling in for head ocach Ray Miller, who is sick. "We need to get better defensively and offensively. We've been teaching them the poise of basketball, so we just keep striving to teach them the fundamentals and having confidence on the floor."

The final score wasn't indicative of Shadow Ridge's dominance, as it opened a 69-49 lead before Blair emptied his bench with 3:42 left in the game.

All of the Mustangs points in the fourth quarter came from the free throw line, where they made 12 of 21. Shadow Ridge hit 30 of 43 from the line in the game.

Now the Mustangs are not only out for a tournament title, according to Blair, but something the program has been lacking for years.

"I'm most proud of their poise and maturity thus far this season," he said. "But we're all here for respect, we haven't gotten the respect the last couple years. We're hoping to turn the whole program around and make sure we earn our respect and we get respect from everybody."

Desert Oasis 78, Lowry 37 — The Diamondbacks held Lowry to just one point in the second quarter en route to a dominating quarterfinal win.

Coleman led four Desert Oasis players in double figures with 16 points. Cannon, Taiga Miayno and Heese each scored 14.

Nathan Lutzow led Lowry with 16 points.

Silverado 76, Sunrise Mountain 50 — Devin Ross scored all of his 16 points in the second half to lead the Skyhawks over the Miners.

Matthew Arnold added 12 points for Silverado.

Tyri White led Sunrise Mountain with 14 points.

Shadow Ridge 92, Hug 56 — The Mustangs showed balance with 14 players scoring in their quarterfinal win.

Springer, Williams and James Fuller each scored 12 to lead Shadow Ridge.

Hug's Tony Sanchez led all scorers with 25 points.

Kingman (Ariz.) 64, Calvary Chapel 59 — The Lions fell behind 36-29 at halftime, and never recovered.

Jordan Dupree led Kingman with 16 points.

Calvary Chapel's Quentin Hank led all scorers with 19 points, and D.J. Golden added 16 points for the Lions.

Hurricane (Utah) 87, Calvary Chapel 70 — The Tigers benefited from the hot shooting of Kirt McDaniel, who buried four 3-pointers en route to a game-leading 30-points in a win over the Lions.

Cameron Varela scored 20 points to lead Calvary Chapel.

Coral Academy 64, Hurricane (Utah) 57 — Ryan Dijno scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half to power the Falcons past the Tigers.

Coral Academy overcame a 28-25 halftime deficit. Isaiah Spears added 18 points for the Falcons.

Josh Parker had 19 to lead Hurricane.

Coral Academy 71, Kingman (Ariz.) 40 — Kaleb Robinson led all scorers with 24 points, while Spears added 19 to lead the Falcons.

Dupree had 10 points for Kingman.

Sunrise Mountain 70, Hug 30 — Steven Adeyemi had 12 of his game-high 16 points in the first quarter as the Miners routed the Hawks.

Rodney King added 14 for Sunrise Mountain.

Zonathan Williams scored 14 for Hug.