3A Boys: Cheyenne knocks off Del Sol in quarterfinals
Cheyenne boys basketball coach Teral Fair may not have been happy with the way his team played Tuesday’s night, but once the playoffs roll around, he can ill afford to be picky.
One way or another, the Desert Shields’ boys basketball team picked up a 74-60 home victory over Del Sol in the Class 3A Southern Region quarterfinals.
“It wasn’t our best effort,” Cheyenne coach Teral Fair said. “We’ll have to be better to advance on Thursday.”
Cheyenne will play Chaparral in the semifinals Thursday at Del Sol.
The Desert Shields 16-9 will get there in large part due to Kavon Williams. The senior had 22 stitches after colliding with an opposing player going for a loose ball a month ago. Williams put something of an exclamation point on this one for the Desert Shields with a big, one-handed dunk with 3:31 left that extended the Cheyenne lead to 66-49.
He finished with 18 points.
It was the largest of the night for the Desert Shields, who’d seen their big first-quarter advantage dwindle to just seven, 45-38, after Keith Seldon buried a 3-pointer for Del Sol with 5:31 to go in the third quarter. But that was as close as the Dragons (14-14) got.
“The light came on maybe just a quarter too late,” Del Sol coach Tyler Ehrke said. “We had a lot of respect for them. We just figured out we can play with them.”
Williams was joined in double figures by sophomore Ke’shawn Hall, who added a team-high 19 for the Shields. Hall scored 13 of those points at the free throw line, a place where Cheyenne made a living on Tuesday.
Cheyenne was 27 of 33 from the line, including 21 of 23 in the second half. It also out-rebounded the Dragons 46-36, and forced Del Sol into 20 turnovers.
It just took a little longer than Fair would have liked to finally put things away.
“I’ve got a really inexperienced team,” Fair said. “A lot of it tonight, I think, was the excitement – their first time being in the playoffs.”
Seldon poured in a game-high 25 points for the Dragons.
Mojave 92, Boulder City 91 — At Boulder City, Noah Sherrard scored 17 points, including the game-winning basket in overtime, as the Rattlers edged the Eagles.
John Harper scored 24 points to lead Mojave (16-10), which got 18 points from Chris Jackson.
Derrick Thomas poured in a game-high 43 points for Boulder City (20-7), and Karson Bailey supplied 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Eagles.
Mojave will play Desert Pines (18-9) in the semifinals.
Chaparral 60, Sunrise Mountain 46 — At Chaparral, Jonathan Tendale scored 23 points, as the Cowboys defeated the Miners.
Meshach Hawkins added 15 for Chaparral (15-8), which sank 18 of 26 free throws.
Steven Adeyemi had a game-high 24 to lead Sunrise Mountain (12-15).
Desert Pines 61, Tech 16 — At Desert Pines, Malachi McLaurin scored 14 points to lead the Jaguars to an easy win over the Roadrunners.
Dayshawn Wiley had 13 points, and Darnell Washington added eight points for Desert Pines.
Tech finished 12-15.