Coconino eyes upset
RORY FAUST Sun Staff Reporter | Posted: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 5:00 am |
Josh Biggs Seniors Justin Russell, left, of Coconino and Jesse Tate, center, and Tyler Tsingine, right, of Flagstaff High hope to end their careers on a high note in the state playoffs. The Panthers and Eagles begin the first round tonight. (Josh Biggs/Arizona Daily Sun)
Coconino's boys basketball players have gone to great lengths to assure team unity this season.
They've utilized traditional bonding experiences, such as team meals, to grow closer. They've also employed unusual methods, such as matching haircuts, headbands and temporary tattoos.
Panthers coach Kelley Smith said the combination of both approaches has sparked the team's return to the Class 4A, Division II tournament after an unusual hiatus last year.
But it's the impromptu hilarity of team-bonding gags that helps the Panthers stay loose -- and keep their coach on his toes.
"Who knows?" Smith said when asked what kind of stunt the team could pull before tonight's first-round state playoff game. "They're always cooking up something. ... I could show up (today) and they all have blue hair.
"At least they're pretty reasonable with the stuff they pull," Smith added. "We're a really tight-knit group, a very family-oriented group. But the hair and stuff, that's all them. I can't take any credit for that."
Instead, the coach credits senior leaders Justin Russell and Trevor Kriesel for perpetrating the Panthers' unusual team-building exercises. Ironically, Russell and Kriesel's on-court exploits have also engineered the team's return to the state playoffs.
After a rocky start, Coconino (14-8) has won 11 of its last 13 games to capture the No. 12 seed in the 4A, D-II tourney, with both losses in that stretch coming against Grand Canyon Region champion Flagstaff High.
The Panthers face a tall order when they visit fifth-seeded Gilbert Williams Field (19-4) at 7 p.m. tonight, but the players are confident their talent and togetherness can keep the joyride going.
"We've really been coming together as a team recently and that's made us play better," said Kriesel, a wing who averages 7.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. "We've been through some tough spots as a team and that will help us at state, I think. We're all just having a lot of fun together and we want to keep it going."
"I think the biggest difference for us right now is that we're playing with a lot of confidence," added Russell, a forward who leads the team with 11.9 points and 7 rebounds per game. "All year, a goal of ours was to go to the state tournament, and when we got that goal, it gave us some confidence. And it's showing."
Stout defense and timely scoring have been the catalysts in the Panthers' strong finish. They'll need both tonight against a Black Hawks squad that, like Coconino, appears to hitting the tourney in stride.
Williams Field of the East Sky Region is averaging 75 points per game over its last 11 contests. They scored more than 90 points twice during the span.
Conversely, the Panthers are allowing just 44 points per game and have only allowed 60 or more points twice this season -- both coming before Christmas break.
"We're just happy to have a shot," Smith said. "I've tried to tell them all year long that the team that's peaking at the end, getting better every week, was the team that would be very dangerous in the playoffs. And I feel like we are getting better every week."
