SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. – The Santa Cruz Valley Union High School boys and girls varsity basketball teams close out the regular season tonight in San Tan Valley where they take on the Combs Coyotes. The Lady Dust Devils tip off for the final time this year at 5:30 p.m. followed by the Dust Devils at 7 p.m.
The Lady Dust Devils enter tonight’s game on a three-game losing streak and just hope to finish the season strong.
The Santa Cruz girls basketball team lost Jan. 29 to the Tanque Verde Lady Hawks in Tucson by a score of 54-41. Two nights later on senior night Jan. 31, and their final home game of the year, the Lady Dust Devils lost a hard-fought game to the visiting San Tan Foothills Lady Sabercats from Queen Creek 39-28.
San Tan Foothills jumped out to an early lead in the first half and was up 22-11 at intermission. Santa Cruz played a great defensive third quarter outscoring San Tan Foothills 7-4 trying to get back in the game.
During the fourth quarter the Lady Dust Devils came storming back to cut the deficit to only four points to the delight of the home crowd. But that would be as close as Santa Cruz would get that night. The Lady Sabercats eventually pulled away to seal the victory for San Tan Foothills.
And on Monday in Tucson the Lady Dust Devils put up a solid amount of points but could not stop San Miguel defensively en route to a 57-41 loss to the Lady Vipers. The Lady Dust Devils are now 3-16 overall for the regular season.
The Santa Cruz boys basketball team enters tonight’s game on a two-game winning streak and still has a chance to make the postseason state tournament.
Before the two recent victories though, the Dust Devils lost a low-scoring battle in Tucson Jan. 29 to the Tanque Verde Hawks by a score of 36-29. The loss dropped Santa Cruz (No. 4) slightly in the standings but it rebounded nicely the next two games.
Santa Cruz won an exciting game Jan. 31 at home on senior night against the visiting San Tan Foothills Sabercats from Queen Creek 56-50.
“We’re back to a full squad, we came out in full force and I’m glad we took this win from San Tan,” Dust Devils head basketball coach Ron Platerio said. “We’re still looking promising, it’s a slim chance but if we win out we should be able to squeeze in somewhere in state.”
The game against San Tan Foothills was a low-scoring affair for most of the game that picked up intensity at the end of the third quarter and continued through the fourth.
Santa Cruz held a steady lead until the third quarter when San Tan grabbed itself a three-point lead and looked as if the Sabercats were beginning to take control of the game.
Then Santa Cruz junior forward Tyshon Banks closed out the third period in a fury. He did his best Reggie Miller impersonation by hitting an up-and-under reverse layup to cut the lead to one point, and then stealing the ensuing San Tan inbounds pass and pulling out to hit a huge three-pointer to bring the home crowd to its feet.
“Tyshon [Banks] had 15 points for us tonight including the end of the third quarter, which I would say was the game changer for us,” said Platerio. “The guys got their energy back and finished the game strong. We need somebody like that every night, somebody who can lift our energy and confidence when we need it.”
The Dust Devils regained the lead again in the fourth quarter, sometimes only by two points, but limited their turnovers, did not force jumpers with less than two minutes left in the game, attempted and made two layups in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, and did enough to hold on for the win.
“The key for this win was our aggressiveness on defense, especially at the end of the game,” Platerio said. “We did a full court press all game. And I wasn’t concerned with their perimeter shooting, but we knew they would try to get inside on us and draw fouls.”
Platerio added that he has stressed to his team as of late to be better in the final minutes of games. No more shooting threes and deep shots when Santa Cruz has the lead and there are less than two minutes to play.
The head coach stresses working the ball around and getting someone open underneath for a high percentage shot. The motion offense worked very well against San Tan, especially during crunch time. Platerio said he is not afraid to show his offense; he likes moving the ball to find open perimeter shots and wants his players to always be pushing the ball and attacking the rim.
Santa Cruz senior forward/center Matt Kujawski led the Dust Devils with 20 points, 18 rebounds, six assists, four steals and two blocks.
Then on Monday in Tucson the Dust Devils defeated the San Miguel Vipers 41-37 to improve to 14-7 overall for the season. Santa Cruz hasn’t had a season with double digit wins in almost a decade.
And in an update to last week’s story about the Santa Cruz versus Pusch Ridge game Jan. 22, which resulted in two players from Santa Cruz being ejected, Dust Devil sophomore forward Anthony Ibarra said the fight between him and Banks did not stem from Banks refusing to pass the ball to an open Ibarra on the opening offensive possession but simply a miscommunication between the two when they accidentally bumped into each other on the defensive end.
According to Ibarra, he was not upset Banks did not pass him the ball and after they ran into each other Banks put his finger in Ibarra’s face and some heated words were exchanged. Ibarra said there was some shoving and arguing and that’s when the officials administered two technicals and ejected both players. No punches were thrown.
