The inside presence and athleticism of the visiting Flagstaff High School Eagles combined with mental errors led to a 79-63 loss for the Mingus Union High School boys basketball team in its 4A Grand Canyon Section contest on Jan. 6.
The Marauders [6-13, 1-4], who played without regular starting senior guard Victor Anaya, were up one at halftime, 34-33, but a 13-0 run in the third provided an insurmountable lead for the Eagles.
“I think in the first half we stuck to our defensive game plan pretty well,” head coach Dave Beery said. “We had a lot of mental errors tonight in little spurts that cost us. You take away a couple of one-minute stretches and it’s a lot closer game.”
Beery, whose team stuck to its usual 2-3 zone on defense throughout, wanted to force the Eagles to be jump shooters and keep their point guard, senior Brandon Tiffany, out of the paint; he only had five first half points.
Mingus is a team that likes to shoot the ball a lot, and in the first quarter shot six of 13 and one for two from beyond the arc, opening a 20-18 lead.
Flagstaff scored six straight to open the second frame but the Marauders hung in shot-for-shot and used two straight three-point baskets to cut the deficit to one.
The closing seconds of the half would have been a catalyst for momentum in favor of Mingus. Tiffany was called for an offensive foul, and the Marauders took advantage of the last five seconds to drive down for a layup for the lead.
However, the third quarter would be all for Flagstaff.
“First half our pace was really good, I liked our pace that we were running it was just nice and controlled,” sophomore guard Chaz Taylor said. “I think second half at times we had too many careless errors, turnovers, bad shots.”
During the second half of the quarter the Eagles went on a 13-0 scoring run behind six straight from senior forward George Faull.
They shot eight for 10 from the field including a perfect two for two from range in the quarter.
Faull, along with junior forward K.P. Kortsen, dominated on the inside, finishing opportunities from the high and low post. The pair and the rest of the Eagles held the rebound advantage throughout as well.
“I just think we could have played with a lot more intensity,” Taylor said. “Just be stronger don’t let them get the easy baskets, and they got a lot of high post looks, too, and sometimes we don’t get the high post covered.”
Meanwhile the high-volume shooting Marauders were merely rubbing two sticks together offensively, shooting six for 15 from the field in the same quarter.
However in the fourth came the spark that led to an 11-0 run.
Two buckets from downtown by junior guard Michael Bryan, sandwiching a third from senior guard Chase Paquin, were followed up by a steal and fast break layup, bringing the score to within four at 63-59. Flagstaff head coach James Kirk was forced to call a timeout.
The Eagles came screaming out of the timeout to score seven unanswered that effectively put the game to bed.
“I don’t know if they had a tough shot, their big guys had to finish through traffic a few times, but for the most part they got layups and uncontested shots,” Beery said. “You have to give them credit because they ran their offense very efficiently in the second half and waited till they got the shot they wanted.”
Bryan led the Marauders with 15 points while Paquin had 13 and Taylor 11. Tiffany exploded for 18 in the second half, totaling 23 to lead all scorers, and the Eagles had five players with 10 points or more.
Mingus faced off with Lee Williams High School in another section game, but results were unavailable at press time. It next plays Wednesday Jan. 11, at 7 p.m. at Scottsdale Christian Academy.
