Cimarron Conriquez leads Desert Pines in Class 4A debut
Desert Pines sophomore guard Cimarron Conriquez isn’t exactly sure what his career high in single-game scoring is.
Could very well be the 25 he scored Wednesday night.
Conriquez, in his first career varsity start after transferring from Clark, made four 3-pointers for the Jaguars in their Class 4A debut — a 60-44 road win over Cimarron-Memorial.
“We’re looking forward to it. We like it,” Jaguars coach Michael Uzan said of his team’s move from Class 3A to Class 4A. “We get to play new competition. We get to play with the big boys.”
The Jaguars won the last two Class 3A state championships and brought back key contributors like explosive sophomore guard Dayshawn Wiley and junior football standout turned power forward Darnell Washington.
But they also added Conriquez and one of the state’s top freshmen guards in Uzan’s son, Milos, who, together, solidify Desert Pines as a contender in the Northeast League.
Conriquez demonstrated his worth immediately, scoring 11 points in the second quarter and 14 in the first half. The younger Uzan helped anchor a stifling perimeter defense, and the Jaguars harassed Spartans’ guards en route to a 27-19 halftime lead.
Cimarron-Memorial slowed the pace in the third quarter and rallied to pull within five points, but Desert Pines stiffened in the fourth and unleashed a barrage of transition baskets to pull away.
Wiley had a thunderous baseline dunk, Washington, at 6-foot-8, protected the paint and Uzan scored eight of his 10 points in the final period, adding five rebounds and five assists.
“We were all talking, (the) team was there for each other and we just started flowing,” Conriquez said. “I think we brought a lot of energy…We just got good shots, shared the ball and played as a team.”
Brian Lang had a team-high 18 points for the Spartans.
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Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.