A strong team effort and fast pace of play fueled the Mingus Union High School boys basketball team to an 81-73 win over visiting Washington High School.
The Marauders outscored the Rams 21-10 in the third quarter to rebound from a 34-31 deficit at halftime.
“You have an emotional win [Dec. 9 against Prescott] where I think we surprised some people, it almost sets you up for: Either you’re going to play awful this game or you’re going to keep it rolling and play really well,” Mingus head coach Dave Beery said. “I thought we had an awful start but we bounced back and showed some toughness, which is good to see.”
The Rams took advantage of the slow start, combined with the zone defense that Mingus usually runs, to sink five three-pointers in the first quarter.
The Marauders’ defensive woes combined with a three-for-seven shooting effort to result to a 22-14 deficit after the first eight minutes of play.
“They came ready to play and I don’t think we did as much,” Beery said. “We were really slow in our close outs and our rotations in the first quarter. We’ve been able to run a zone pretty effectively against good shooting team in the past.”
From the second quarter on Mingus played man-to-man, which resulted in Washington shooting three for 15 during the middle two quarters.
Offensively, the Marauders continued to push the pace and dig themselves out of the hole, reducing the deficit to three by halftime.
“We try to run the court every time we get the ball because that’s our strength,” Mingus senior guard Jordan Pollock said. “We’re not that big, we’re quick and athletic, and we can make plays really quick, so that’s what we try to do.”
The third quarter saw the Marauders take their first lead since leading 3-0 in the first minute of the game. They forced six Ram turnovers to create easy points.
“I think we’re kind of pesky,” Beery said. “We didn’t make a huge adjustment, we just said, ‘Keep putting pressure on the ball, keep our hands up, keep in the passing lanes.’ When players get tired they start making a few mistakes.”
Mingus senior guard Chase Paquin sank two shots from beyond the arc and senior forward Miles Tapija contributed six points.
“I think we did a really good job of coming out and picking up energy after we started really slow in the first part of the game, and we just took off after we got a little bit of that momentum,” said Pollock, who finished with five points off the bench.
With the score at 52-44 in favor of the Marauders, Washington caught fire from distance once again, sinking seven of 12 shots.
Mingus showed more patience with the ball, but allowed the Rams to get within nine with one minute left.
“When we get ahead like that, we like to try to slow the pace, but sometimes we get careless and we made a few bad turnovers today and that led to some easy points,” Pollock said.
The Marauders protected their lead by sinking 13 of 18 free throws in the final frame.
After the game, Beery commended Pollock. “I think Jordan Pollock gave us great minutes off the bench on the defensive end tonight,” he said “I think he did a good job tonight to make a big difference in that game.”
Tapija led all scorers with 23 points while Washington’s junior guard Orlando Moore and senior guard Daniel Pedroza netted 15 each to lead the Rams.
Mingus improved to 4-7 on the season and 2-1 in 4A Grand Canyon Section play after grinding out a 62-61 win at Bradshaw Mountain High School on Dec. 16.
They also visited Kellis High School on Dec. 15, but results were unavailable at press time.
Mingus next plays at 7 p.m., Jan. 3 at Coconino High School in a 4A Grand Canyon Section contest.
