FOOTHILL CLASSIC: Slow starting Green Valley boys rally past Redemption Christian
Green Valley boys basketball coach Lorenzo Jarvis doesn’t get too caught up in early-season results.
So Jarvis wasn’t too concerned when his team entered play in the Foothill Holiday Classic with a 5-9 record.
And if Wednesday’s results are any indication, the Gators may have turned the corner.
Clyde Austin hit three key second-half 3-pointers, and the Gators beat Redemption Christian (N.Y.) 59-57 to move into the tournament semifinals.
“I don’t worry about the losses early in the year,” said Jarvis, whose team beat Arbor View 79-74 earlier Wednesday. “I look at basketball as a marathon, not a sprint. We’re building as a team. We’re learning and playing hard and that’s all I can ask of the kids.”
Austin hit three 3-pointers in the final 4:28 to key Green Valley’s comeback.The Gators trailed 36-25 at the half, but Austin hit a 3-pointer with 4:28 to go to make it 50-48.
He later cut the lead to one with another 3-pointer, and gave the Gators a 54-53 lead when he nailed a shot from the left wing with 2:34 to play.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Jarvis said. “The kid just comes to work every day and waits for his opportunity. And when his number’s called, he takes advantage of it.”
The Lions tied the game at 57 on two free throws by Jahman Dalancy with 28.6 seconds to play.
But Ikaika Pladera hit two foul shots with 19.5 seconds to give the Gators the lead, and then came up with a steal in the closing seconds to seal the win.
Tyler Roberts had 15 points, and Pladera scored 14 for Green Valley.
Jarvis said his team also got a boost inside from all-state offensive lineman Tyrell Crosby. The 6-foot-6-inch, 290-pound Crosby had six points and six rebounds, and his size was especially important against the bigger Redemption team.
“He’s a hell of an athlete,” Jarvis said. “He moves his feet really well and has extremely long arms. And hey, that’s 300 pounds in there. And people don’t think that 300 pounds can move like he can move.”
Angel Delgado led Redemption with 14 points and six rebounds.
Foothill 92, Valley 83 — At Foothill, Chris Echols had 25 points and seven rebounds to lead the Falcons over the Vikings in the quarterfinals.
Jalen Shepard added 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals for Foothill, which led 44-40 at the half.
Elijah Smith had 20 points, five rebounds and six assists for Foothill, which led by as much as 16 in the second half.
Spencer Mathis had 32 points to lead Valley. His 3-pointer with 3:44 to play cut the Foothill lead to eight at 84-76, but the Vikings would get no closer.
Ryan Johnson scored 20 points, and Cameron Burton added 12 points and eight assists for Valley.
Army-Navy (Calif.) 91, Desert Pines 90 — At Foothill, Cheikh N’Diaye scored with three seconds left to give the Warriors the win over the Jaguars in the quarterfinals.
After a timeout, Desert Pines got the ball to Donavin Wright, who drove past midcourt, but was unable to get a shot off before time expired.
Devin Watson scored 30 of his game-high 41 points in the second half to help Army-Navy secure the win. He added six rebounds and nine assists. The 7-1 N’Diaye had 25 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Julian Jacobs led Desert Pines with 29 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, but he fouled out with 19.5 seconds to play.
Wright added 20 points, and Trevion Turner scored 10 for the Jaguars.
Desert Pines led 43-31 at the half, but the Warriors opened the second half on a 15-3 run to cut the lead to one.
Army-Navy led 65-63 with seven minutes to play, but Jacobs scored six straight points to give the Jaguars the lead.
Desert Pines still led 80-72 with 2:54 to go after a coast-to-coast layup by Jacobs, but Watson scored seven points in less than a minute to start the Warrior comeback.
Denver East 75, Las Vegas 68 — At Foothill, the Angels hit 10 of their first 11 shots and held on to beat the Wildcats in the quarterfinals.
Brian Carey scored 16 points on 6-for-6 shooting in the first 7 minutes, 22 seconds of the game as Denver East took a 28-4 lead.
Las Vegas, meanwhile missed seven straight shots after making its first attempt to dig a huge hole early.
The Wildcats rallied in the second half, shooting 61.5 percent from the field to make it close. Las Vegas cut the deficit to two on a Juwan Major drive that made it 53-51 with 5:52 to play.
Juwan Major had 17 points and five rebounds for the Wildcats. Leo Goodman added 15 points, and Aziz leeks and Devon Colley each scored 10. Colley also had six rebounds and six assists.
Carey paced the Angels with 23 points and six assists.
Coronado 74, Palo Verde 64 — At Foothill, Jordan Willis and Justice Augmon each had 15 points to help the Cougars top the Panthers in the consolation bracket
Charlie Teixeira had 13 points, and Rashad Westbrook scored 12 for Coronado, which trailed 32-27 at the half.
Darryl Gaynor paced Palo Verde with 24 points, and Joey Randazzo scored 11 for the Panthers.
Canyon Springs 68, Basic 47 — At Foothill, Chris Swanson scored 19 points to help the Pioneers top the Wolves in the consolation bracket.
Gerad Davis added 15 points for Canyon Springs, which led 33-18 at the half.
Deion Johnson led Basic with 12 points.
Centennial 76, Shadow Ridge 56 — At Foothill, Marcus Allen had 29 points, and Malcolm Allen scored 24 to lead the Bulldogs over the Mustangs in the consolation bracket.
Terrell Bowden led Shadow Ridge with 17 points, and teammate Kealyn Butler scored 15.
Arbor View 72, Liberty 71 — At Foothill, Justin Burks scored 31 points and the Aggies held on to top the Patriots in the consolation bracket.
Charles Porter and Terrell Butler each added 12 points, and Corey Moore scored 10 for the Aggies, who led by as much as 22.
Elijah Graves had 18 points to pace Liberty. Dartivius Young had 15 points, and Tyler Newman scored 12 for the Patriots, who got 11 points from Jeremy Lontayao and 10 points from Zach Johnson.
Foothill 83, Centennial 60 — At Foothill, Matt Rapp scored 18 points to help the Falcons down the Bulldogs in the opening round.
Austin Starr added 15 points, and Smith had 14 points and five rebounds for Foothill, which led 50-28 at the half.
Jordan Girnus scored 12 for the Falcons, who made 10 3-pointers, including five by Starr.
Rayquan Stewart led Centennial with 16 points, and teammate Marcus Berkley had 10 points and six rebounds.
Centennial star guards Marcus and Malcolm Allen combined to play less than 12 minutes, and totaled 11 points. Two other starters, Austin Turley and Eddie Davis, combined to play just eight minutes.
Desert Pines 64, Basic 36 — At Foothill, Re’Meake Keith had 23 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots as the Jaguars routed the Wolves in the opening round.
Jacobs added 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists for Desert Pines, which was 22-for-40 (55 percent) from the field.
Alika Mahiai led Basic with nine points. The Wolves were just 13-for-52 (25 percent) from the field.
Green Valley 79, Arbor View 74 — At Foothill, Austin scored 25 points to help the Gators top the Aggies in overtime in the opener.
Roberts added 19 points, and Pladera scored 11 for Green Valley.
Burks had 31 points and six rebounds to lead Arbor View. Porter added 14 points, and Butler and Tristan Lacy each scored 10 for Arbor View.
Las Vegas 65, Palo Verde 63 — At Foothill, Re’Kwon Smith had 20 points as the Wildcats edged the Panthers in the opening round.
Smith was 8-for-10 from the field for Las Vegas, which shot 27-for-38 (71.1 percent) as a team.
Major added 13 points, and Leeks scored 10 for the Wildcats.
Eris Winder led Palo Verde with 17 points, and teammate Randazzo scored 13.
Valley 81, Shadow Ridge 47 — Mathis had 22 points as the Vikings routed the Mustangs.
Johnson and Daniel Young each added 14 points for Valley.
Butler led Shadow Ridge with 10 points.
Army-Navy (Calif.) 52, Canyon Springs 47 — At Foothill, Watson had 16 points to help the Warriors hold off the Pioneers in the opening round.
Akhadj Diatta and N’Diaye each added 12 points for Army-Navy.
Chris Swanson paced Canyon Springs with 11 points.
Denver East 66, Coronado 48 — At Foothill, Dominique Collier scored 24 points as the Angels beat the Cougars in the opening round.
Teixeira had 11 points for Coronado.
Redemption Christian (N.Y.) 64, Liberty 44 — At Foothill, Delgado had 28 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots as the Lions topped the Patriots.
Graves led Liberty with 11 points, and Young added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Patriots.
WHITE DIVISION
Del Sol 63, Douglas County (Colo.) 60 — Tyrone Rouse tallied 18 points, including a pair of key baskets in the final 90 seconds to help the Dragons top Douglas County.
Jonross Juhas added 11 points, and Eduardo Romero scored 10 for Del Sol.
Ryley Stewart and Calvin Cooke each had 17 points for Douglas County.
Granite Hills (Calif.) 65, Del Sol 59 — D.J. Palomera scored 18 points, and Codie Simmons added 16 points as Granite Hills defeated the Dragons.
Romero had 15 points, and Kyle Collins scored 14 for Del Sol, which got 13 points from Rouse.
Chaparral 47, Douglas County (Colo.) 46 — Jared Celestine hit a jumper at the final buzzer to give the Cowboys a win over Douglas County.
Patrick Savoy led Chaparral with 11 points, and Jason Jonshon scored 10.
Stewart had 16 points, and Cooke tallied 14 points for Douglas County.
Granite Hills (Calif.) 74, Chaparral 67 — Palomera scored 25 points, and Granite Hills scored its final 19 points from the free-throw line to top the Cowboys.
Simmons and Koltin Higgins added 11 points apiece for Granite Hills, which went 28 of 43 from the line.
Patrick Savoy led Chaparral with 19 points, Kamron Alexander came off the bench to score 10.
Sequim (Wash.) 52, Bonanza 47 — Gabe Carter hit four free throws in the final minute as the Wolves turned back the Bengals.
Carter led the Wolves with 11 points, followed by Alex Barry and Rory Kallappa with 10 points each.
Cameron Ladson had 15 points for Bonanza, and Rio Justice Chandler added 13 points.
Valhalla (Calif.) 66, Bonanza 62 — David Gazale talied 22 points as Valhalla nipped the Bengals.
Kevin Mills added 11 points for Valhalla, which made 17-of-21 free throws in the second half.
Ladson led Bonanza with 21 points.
