Cheyenne boys hold off Sierra Vista to advance

With four minutes to play Tuesday night, Cheyenne was cruising to a blowout win.

Things almost changed very quickly.

Sierra Vista closed the game with a 27-7 run, but the Desert Shields held on for an 84-79 home win in the Sunset Region quarterfinals.

“Our kids showed that they are battle-tested,” Cheyenne coach Teral Fair said. “These kinds of games you expect in the playoffs, and even though we were up at times, we never really felt comfortable. At this point in the season, kids are going to leave everything on the floor.”

Cheyenne held a 25-point lead, its largest of the game, with four minutes left. Sierra Vista then used full-court pressure to close the game on the 27-7 run. The Mountain Lions outscored Cheyenne 37-20 in the fourth quarter.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my kids and how they played right down to the very last second,” Sierra Vista coach Kent Johnson said. “There was no quit in them, and they showed championship-level heart.”

Cheyenne led 38-30 at the half and used 16 points by Demetric Williams in the third quarter to take a 64-42 lead into the final period.

Williams had 30 points and six assists. He shot 4-for-8 on 3-pointers and outscored Sierra Vista 11-4 during a two-minute span in the third quarter.

“The thing that really hurt us was Demetric’s shooting,” Johnson said. “He got hot, and it really messed up what we wanted to do.”
Fair agreed.

“He’s one of our prime-time performers, and he stepped up to the challenge,” Fair said. “Obviously he was really on with his jumper, but I was more impressed with his composure and poise in making plays.”

Cheyenne also got big performances by Chris McCall (21 points, nine rebounds), Jaylen Henry (12 points, nine rebounds) and Elijah Johnson (11 points, 10 rebounds).

Quinten Chow led Sierra Vista with 21 points.

Ray Tapusoa added 20 points, 16 in the second half, for the Mountain Lions.

“We gave it all we could but just fell short,” Tapusoa said. “I’m really sad and thought we had the ability to go farther than we did.”

Cheyenne will face Bishop Gorman on Thursday in the Sunset Region semifinals.