Two Marauder buzzer beaters, a scoring clinic at the beginning of the second quarter and a birthday celebration.
The Mingus Union High School boys basketball team put on a show at its 74-51 4A Grand Canyon Section victory against the visiting Prescott High School Badgers
on Dec. 9.
“I think [it was good] for our mental state,” Mingus head coach Dave Beery said. “It was good for us to get a win, it was great to get a section win and really I think the teams that are on the top of our section, from a talent standpoint, are probably [Flagstaff] High and Prescott, so I think that means a little bit more, beating one of those teams that we were hoping to get a split with.”
The game started off as a back-and-forth contest in which there were four lead changes inside the first five minutes before Mingus, who improved to 2-9 and 1-1 in section play, took a 10-9 lead that it would never relinquish.
Marauder senior guard Chase Paquin capped a 15-7 run to end the first quarter with a buzzer-beater bucket from three-point range that brought the crowd to its feet.
The buzz carried over into the second quarter, and the crowd would have even more to cheer about.
Prescott junior Braden Lopez opened the quarter with a layup, but Mingus senior forward Miles Tapija began a scoring clinic by banking in the first two points of his 12-point explosion, where he continued scoring with a variety of moves.
His most sensational run of plays came when he hit a stepback jumper, scored off dribble penetration, drew a charge on the next play and finally ended with a spinning fadeaway.
After the game, Tapija was humble about his scoring output.
“I was trying to go out and play my game,” he said. “And I don’t know what came over me. It was just one of those games, I guess, where you can’t miss.”
Mingus senior Victor Anaya, who celebrated his 18th birthday with the win, knocked in a pair of free throws to finish off the Marauders’ 14-point scoring run. By halftime the lead grew to 14 points at 44-30.
Mingus used a zone defense to slow down Prescott’s inside presence. When the two teams met on Dec. 2, according to Beery, the Marauders had success running a zone in the second half.
“Defensively our zone really worked for our guys, they kept their hands up and we were real active,” Anaya said. “We didn’t give up, we never kept our heads down and we kept at our pace the whole game. That’s what really gave us the key in just getting over the hump that we had.”
In the third quarter it was Paquin’s turn to take the reigns offensively for Mingus, scoring 14 points.
The Marauders were able to continue pushing the pace, practically matching the Badgers shot for shot to keep them at bay.
“I think we took better shots,” Beery said. “Our goal is to push the pace. We want to get 80 shots up per game and we haven’t really been doing that … we were able to get the ball up the court and we were able to attack their defense early, which is something we always want to do.”
Just as Paquin did at the first quarter’s end, Tapija nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer to bring the crowd to its feet once again.
The final eight minutes saw the pace slow considerably as only 11 total points were scored. With 1:18 left, the crowd sang to Anaya for his birthday as he shot two free throws.
“We have to keep them under the water. That’s how we say it, and we just came through with the win,” Anaya said.
After a one-point loss on Monday, Dec. 5 to Mohave High School in their first sectional game, Beery was most satisfied that his team played at its potential throughout.
“What was important to me was we kept the intensity, and that’s where we struggled this year,” he said. “It’s the first game where I feel like we worked harder than the other team for the whole 32 minutes.”
Tapija led all scorers with 27 points, and Prescott’s senior guard Paxton Lynch led the Badgers with 11.
Mingus next plays at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16, when it travels to Bradshaw Mountain High School for its third 4A Grand Canyon Section contest.
