Coconino High School Basketball

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size
Coconino Panthers Boys' Basketball

Coconino Boys Shine in GCR Tournament

E-mail Print PDF
By DANIEL BERK
Sun Sports Staff
Thursday, February 12, 2009

In the final minutes of his team's game against Cottonwood Mingus, Coconino senior point guard Donovan David started thinking about how those final minutes could be the last of his high school career.

Then, the point guard turned it on. David had a timely steal, a key 3-pointer and two free throws at the end of the game to help the third-seeded Panthers to a 44-41 overtime win over No. 6 seed Mingus in the opening round of the Grand Canyon Region tournament Wednesday at the Skydome.

"I didn't want to have to go turn in my uniform. I wasn't ready for that yet," said David, who finished with a team-high 12 points and added six steals. "I was definitely thinking about how this could be it for me and I just stayed with it and tried to make plays."

David's first big play came with under a minute left in regulation with the game tied at 35. David stole the ball from Mingus point guard Chris Johnson and quickly got the ball down court. The senior then spotted classmate Jeremy Reynolds near the basket, who put up a short runner to give the Panthers a two-point lead.

Mingus' Aaron Neuhaus hit two free throws with 5.4 seconds left after being fouled by Reynolds to tie the game back up. Coconino was unable to score on the next possession and the game went to overtime.

In the extra session, Mingus got buckets from Johnson and Neuhaus and went up 41-37. That's when David came through again.

This time, as Johnson laid off of him and gave him a couple of feet to work with, David stepped up and nailed a 3-pointer to cut it to one. After a stop on the next possession, junior Justin Russell hit a layup to give CHS a one point lead.

Mingus was unable to score on the next possession and had to foul David and take their chances. David knocked down both free throws and Johnson's desperation shot at the buzzer fell well short, giving CHS the win.

"Donovan stepped up in a big way today," CHS coach Kelly Smith said. "He showed what type of player he is. He's one of the elite guards in our region."

Of course, as the No. 3 seed in the tournament, Smith was hoping his team was going to have an easier time with the bottom-seeded Marauders.

"I told the kids after the game that it wasn't pretty, but we kept scrapping and got the job done," Smith said. "We came out and turned the ball and we didn't box out well at all. I think we came out like a deer in the headlights a little bit playing at the Dome for the first time, but we settled down eventually."

CHS also got a big contribution from junior Trevor Kriesel, who finished with 11 points. Kriesel who has already hit two buzzer-beaters this year, hit a 3-pointer from the corner with under a minute remaining in regulation with his team trailing 35-32, to set up David's heroics.

"One of the first things I told Trevor after he hit his first one against Flag High was that he's going to hit more of these big shots," Smith said. "Some guys just have a knack for hitting big shots like that and he's one of them. He absolutely stepped up again tonight."

With the win, CHS will play at Flagstaff High tonight at 7 p.m. in the tournament's semifinals. The two team's split this year with each team winning on the other's home court.

"We'll get some rest and forget about this win," David said. "We know we have another tough one waiting for us and it's Flag High, so it should be a lot of fun."

(4) Prescott Valley Bradshaw Mountain 55, (5) Page 42

Fourth-seeded Bradshaw Mountain easily held of No. 5 seed Page in the tournament's other quarterfinal and advanced to face Sinagua tonight at 7 p.m. at SHS in a semifinal showdown.

The Bears were led by Jake Howe, who had 17 points. First team All-GCR member Jordan Weir added 12 and Micah Stringer had 11.

Page was led by Ryan Sellers, who had 14.

Page hung with the Bears in the first half and went into halftime trailing by just one. In the second though, Bradshaw Mountain pulled away, outscoring Page by five in the third and seven in the fourth.

Coconino''s Justin Russell tries to drill through through Mingus''s defense during GCR quarterfinal tournament play at the Skydome on Wednesday. (Josh Biggs/Arizona Daily Sun/Order this photo at http://photos.azdailysun.com)
Last Updated on Friday, 20 February 2009 03:31
 

All-Grand Canyon Region Team Honored Players

E-mail Print PDF

The honored basketball players from Coconino High School are as follows:

First Team-Justin Russell

Second Team Team-Donovan David

Honorable Mention-Jeremy Reynolds

 

Coconino boy's basketball drops key GCR game to Mingus

E-mail Print PDF
By DANIEL BERK
Sun Sports Staff
Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Coconino boys basketball coach Kelly Smith had a simple message for his team following the Panthers' 50-43 home court loss to Cottonwood Mingus on Tuesday night.

"I told them that we needed to adjust to how the game was called and how physical it was and we never did that," Smith said. "We weren't nearly as physical as Mingus, especially in the second half and it cost us. "Physically, we were manhandled tonight."

Because of the loss, Friday night's game against Flagstaff High holds that much more significance.

At 5-4 in Grand Canyon Region play, the Panthers (11-14 overall) are one game behind Flagstaff High for second place in the league.

If Coconino is able to beat visiting FHS on Friday, it would hold the tiebreaker over the Eagles and earn the No.2 seed in the GCR tournament and receive a first-round bye.

"That's the game right there for the season," Smith said. "I've already sent the message to this team that they have to put tonight's game behind them and turn all of their attention to Flag high and the two days we have to prepare for them. We're going to need to bring our best game to win that one."

The Panthers took a five-point lead into halftime and extended that lead to eight when sophomore Brent James hit a layup to make it 27-19 midway through the third quarter.

After James' bucket, the Panthers ran into trouble on the offensive end, while Mingus flourished.

"I thought offensively we became sluggish in the second half," Smith said. "We didn't execute like we should have and again I think that was because of the physical nature of the game. They were taking us out of what we wanted to do and we were letting them."

Mingus' Trevor Sanderlin answered with a short jumper, was fouled and completed the three-point play to cut it to 27-22.

Sanderlin later hit a layup to cut it to 29-27, the closest the Marauders had been since the first half.

After James canned a pair of free throws, Sanderlin hit another bucket and Chris Johnson converted on a driving layup to tie the game at 31 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, things just continued to go Mingus' way.

Carson Sandoval hit a pair of free throws to give the Marauders a two-point lead before Brian Jackson nailed his only 3-pointer of the game to extend Mingus' lead to five.

After Justin Russell hit a layup for the Panthers to cut it to three, Mingus scored the next six points courtesy of two Austin Rogers layups and two Jackson free throws to take a 42-33 lead.

Russell tried to keep the Panthers in the game, scoring 10 of the Panthers' 12 points in the final quarter. The junior hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to cut it to 44-38 and then hit a running jumper to get it to 44-40.

"Justin was in a lot of foul trouble, but when he was out there he was effective," Smith said. "He battled for us and got some buckets."

Coconino would never get closer than four points though as Mingus hit five of its last six free throws to ice the game.

Russell led the Panthers with 16 points and senior Donovan David chipped in with 10. Sanderlin led the Marauders with 15, while Johnson added 11. Sandoval chipped in with eight.

Coconino High School''s Jeremy Canigliari tries to pass the ball past Mingus'' Brian Jackson during the matchup between the two teams at CHS on Tuesday. (Josh Biggs/Arizona Daily Sun/Order this photo at http://photos.azdailysun.com)
Last Updated on Friday, 20 February 2009 03:15
 

Flagstaff High boys holds off Panthers in finale

E-mail Print PDF

Prep Basketball: Flagstaff High boys holds off Panthers in finale

FHS 44, CHS 42




It definitely wasn't the way Flagstaff High boys basketball coach James Kirk wanted his team to finish a game.

Leading by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, FHS went 0-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final minutes, but still managed to hold on for a 44-42 win over Coconino in the Panthers' final regular season home game of the year. "Hey, you know, a win is a win," Kirk said. "When you're talking Flagstaff and Coconino, you never know what's going to happen. It wasn't pretty, but we hung on and got the win and that's what matters.

"A couple of months ago, we would have caved in and lost. I think we're learning about mental toughness."

With the win, the Eagles secured the No. 2 seed in the Grand Canyon Region tournament and as a result, will have a bye in Tuesday's opening round.

The Eagles' Jesse Tate, who had a game-high 20 points and a team- high six rebounds, has an idea on how the team can spend its extra day of practice.

"Now that we got the bye, we can get a little time off and work on our free throws," Tate said with a smile. "We have to knock those down at the end and not make the game so close."

Behind Tate, the Eagles jumped out to an early lead over the Panthers. Tate scored six of FHS's first 10 points and the Eagles jumped out to an 18-3 lead at one point in the first quarter.

"These guys came out fired up tonight," Kirk said. "One thing we've figured out is that our offense feeds off of our defense and tonight we were able to come out and get after it defensively, which got us a lot of easy buckets at the other end.

"We knew we had to come out, in their gym, and be the aggressive team and get a lead and that's exactly what we did."

The Panthers spent the second quarter cutting into FHS's lead and senior point guard Donovan David hit a pair of free throws right before the end of the half to cut CHS's lead to six.

Early on in the third quarter, the Panthers' Brent James hit a layup to make the score 26-24. Just when it looked like CHS was going to make things interesting, the Eagles scored the next seven points to extend their lead back out to nine.

Coconino spent the final quarter and a half trying to overcome the deficit, but never got closer than two points.

"In my mind, Flagstaff has by far the most talent in town," CHS coach Kelly Smith said. "They're definitely the most talented group in our region and we were right there with them.

"I thought we panicked a little at the end and that certainly didn't help."

James and Trevor Kriesel led the Panthers with 12 points apiece.

CHS will open play in the GCR tournament on Tuesday at home against Cottonwood Mingus. In the region's other quarterfinal, Prescott Valley Bradshaw Mountain will host Page.


Flagstaff High School's Vince Pinto tries to pass around Coconino's Trevor Wytroval during Friday night's FHS-CHS game. (Josh Biggs/Arizona Daily Sun)
 

Russell's 22 points propels CHS to season-opening win

E-mail Print PDF





Justin Russell scored 22 points to lead host Coconino to a 47-42 win over Tempe High Monday night in its season opener.

The Panthers, who have just three returning players from last season, got off to a slow start, falling behind early and going into halftime down three. In the third, CHS put it together and went into the fourth quarter leading by five. "We came out, and as you might expect being a young team, were a little nervous and shell-shocked," Panthers coach Kelly Smith said. "We settled down in the second half and took control of the game and Tempe got down a little bit."

Russell, a junior who spent last season on the junior varsity team, was stellar throughout the whole game and controlled the tempo for the Panthers on the offensive end.

"He just played really well for us in all areas of the game," Smith said. "He posted down low for us. He shot the ball well wherever he was at. He got loose tonight and was able to get some easy buckets."

Panther junior Trevor Kriesel, who came off the bench for the Panthers, was the second leading scorer with eight points. Senior guard Donovan David added seven. Tempe was led by Jordan Baker, who had 19 in the loss.

The Panthers return to the court tonight in the first round of the Phoenix Paradise Valley Invitational, where they will play the host Trojans.

Coconino 47, Tempe 42

Tempe 12 15 4 11 -- 42

Coconino 8 16 12 11 -- 47

Coconino-- Russell 22, Kriesel 8, David 7, Reynolds 4, James 2, Phipps 2, Wytroval 2.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 January 2009 04:48
 
  • «
  •  Start 
  •  Prev 
  •  1 
  •  2 
  •  3 
  •  Next 
  •  End 
  • »


Page 1 of 3

Panther Gear

Shirts Decals Donations
Show Cart
Your Cart is currently empty.

Upcoming Events

No current events.