I-A BOYS: Experienced Chargers turn away Del Sol

The Dragons won their first postseason game Tuesday night, while Clark was shooting for its third straight appearance in the state tournament.

The two met Thursday night in the Division I-A Southern Region tournament at Spring Valley, and when it counted the most, the battled-tested Chargers flexed their muscle.

Leading by four points with five minutes remaining in the third period, Clark used a smothering defense and held Del Sol to 13 points in the final 12:40 to gain a 46-34 victory.

Clark (20-8) will meet Desert Pines (21-8) in the region final at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. Both teams advance to the state tournament.

The Chargers led 25-21 with just more than five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Following a Darius Jackson bucket, Clark coach Chad Beeten called timeout.

The Chargers went to a 2-3 zone to try to stop the second-shot opportunities by the Dragons.

“We gave up too many second shots,” Beeten said. “That’s a very athletic and talented team at Del Sol, and we had to make an adjustment.”

The move worked as the Dragons (21-7) made just four of their final 12 shots. For the game, Del Sol made 15 of 40 shots (37.5 percent) from the field.

To add to the woes, Del Sol senior Brian Greer, who had 31 points against Mojave on Tuesday, was only 3-for-13 against Clark.

“It’s great to make it back to state,” Beeten said. “These kids have been all through the roller coaster — blowing a lead in a state title game, winning the next season — (we are) a battle-tested team. Down the stretch, our experience showed. We aren’t just settling for making state, we want to win regionals first.”

After the timeout, Clark went on a 16-5 run keyed by four straight buckets by Jackson, and the Chargers were never threatened again.

Colby Jackson had 10 points and seven assists, Jackson had 10 points and nine rebounds and Ty’Rek Wells added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Chargers.

Noah Spearman and JonRoss Juhas each had eight points for Del Sol.

Desert Pines 71, Chaparral 61 — Capri Uzan had 18 points, and Trevon Abdullah added 15 points and 14 rebounds as the Jaguars advanced to the region final.

The Jaguars raced out to a 9-2 lead early, and it appeared Desert Pines was going to have an easy night. But the Cowboys didn’t go away. Chaparral (16-12) trimmed a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to 69-61 with 1:16 remaining.

That would be as close as Chaparral would come, as Abdullah hit a 12-footer as Desert Pines turned away the pesky Cowboys.

Coby Myles was 8 of 17 from the floor and added 17 points for Desert Pines.

Chaparral’s Marc Silas led all scorers with 19 points. Maharie Trotter had 12 points, Richard Nelson scored 11 and Samuel Porras 10 for the Cowboys.