It was a long drive, but Desert Oasis’ return trip to Las Vegas from Yuma was most likely worth it.
The Diamondbacks won the Southwest Rotary Classic in their first appearance at the annual basketball tournament by sweeping through the four-game slate, including a 70-55 win in an all-Vegas final at Cibola High.
Senior Taiga Miyano scored 18 points and junior Maitland Williams added 17 points in the close-out victory.
The championship game versus Palo Verde was a culmination of sorts after back-to-back close calls against Arizona squads. The Diamondbacks (4-1) escaped Copper Canyon of Glendale in the semifinals with a rousing comeback from a double-digit first half deficit and overcame a low-scoring third quarter to put away Youngker in the quarterfinals.
In a way, Desert Oasis, led by Miyano, Williams and Jacob Hesse, followed suit with previous Vegas entries into the Yuma-based tournament. The champion has hailed from Sin City in nine of 17 seasons, including three past titles for runner-up Palo Verde.
The Diamondbacks, who got arguably the most diverse draw in the field, beat San Luis, 66-34, to open the 2016 event before knocking off Youngker, Copper Canyon and Palo Verde. They are the only team in the 14-team field to play at least one opponent from four regions: Yuma, Vegas, Phoenix, and Buckeye.
OTHER NOTES FROM SWRC
- Cibola, which hosted the semifinals and final, lost twice on Friday. Despite the Raiders’ annual success, they have not won the tournament since its inaugural year in 2000. This year was particularly jarring as the youthful Raiders lost by four to Copper Canyon and then fell later in the day to Tolleson after the Wolverines knocked down a pair of free throws in the final seconds. Cibola responded with a one-point win over Youngker on Saturday morning.
- Yuma went 0-4 in the slate, but got a bit of a breakthrough in the final two games from first-year player Izik Silverhorn. The junior guard scored 21 points combined against Mountain View Christian (Las Vegas) and San Luis, including four 3-pointers overall and a 12-point outing on Friday night for the first double-digit scoring game of his brief career.
-Speaking of San Luis, senior guard-forward Gabriel Ponce helped the Sidewinders (1-5) snap a five-game losing streak with a season-high 26 points Saturday against Yuma. Ponce made a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter and then lived in the lane after halftime. Out of Ponce’s 14 second half points 12 came inside or at the free throw line following attempts at the rim. The Sidewinders beat the Criminals, 49-36.
- After falling into the consolation bracket with an opening loss to Youngker, Lake Havasu acquitted themselves pretty well, winning three-straight games. Their wins certainly had an air of familiarity. The Knights (5-3) beat San Luis, Kofa (in overtime) and Gila Ridge. Prior to this season those three shared Section II of Division III with Lake Havasu. AIA realignment shifted Gila Ridge to 4A, Kofa and San Luis to 6A and plopped the Knights right in the middle at 5A. Senior Jonathan Patito scored double-figures in all three wins, including a personal tournament-high 18 against Kofa when he went 7-for-13 from the field.
- Even though they lost twice in the tournament, Yuma Catholic showed they can match-up with multiple styles of play. They hung around in a high-scoring affair against Palo Verde in round two and suffocated an athletic Dobson team, 49-27, where big man Daniel Callendar matched up with Theron Long in a battle of 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-7 centers, respectively.
- Mountain View Christian's twin tandem of Terrence and Tyrell Brooks each put up 30-point games. Terrence had 30 in a 57-47 win over Yuma, while Tyrell scored 35 in Mountain View's loss to Kofa Saturday.
- Kofa's Chuy Ortiz is averaging 17.2 points per game, including his 32-point eruption against Lake Havasu on Friday. During the tournament, the junior point guard scored at least 15 points in each of the final three games.
