Phoenix fight back with clutch plays but fall on final shot
The Sonoraville Phoenix scratched and clawed to get back into Saturday’s Class AAA State Tournament first round game against Monroe Area, but in the end the comeback wasn’t to be thanks to a dramatic shot by the visiting Hurricanes.
The Phoenix battled back to tie the game twice in the last two minutes on dramatic 3-pointers after being down almost the entire second half, but it was a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Monroe Area’s Chandler Gibson that dealt the final blow in the game to lift his team to a 76-73 victory.
Sonoraville (22-8), who was hosting a game for the first time ever in the state tournament, got a 3-pointer from Tavian Reynolds to tie the game at 68-68 with just over a minute left, and then Wil Walraven once again tied it up at 73-73 with 12.2 seconds left before Gibson hit his shot as time expired.
“When you lose a close one like that, there is going to be 1,000 things that go through your mind that you think you could’ve done differently,” said Sonoraville coach Brent Mashburn. “But it seemed like we just kept battling uphill the whole second half and continued to make plays to give ourselves a chance. They just had a kid that make a tough shot.
“It hurts the way it does because that’s been us for 30 games. These kids fight their butts off every night, and when you don’t have to worry about the effort level as a coach and just focus on the X’s and O’s, it makes it a lot easier for me. It didn’t matter who or where or when we played, these guys stepped up. We made so many plays tonight, and it was different guys at different times, to give ourselves a chance. This is such a good group that I’m going to miss them tremendously.”
The Phoenix trailed 53-47 after the third quarter thanks to a shot at the end of the period by Monroe Area (15-14) that the officials counted and a free throw on a technical foul. Sonoraville dug in and fought continuously from there, bringing themselves back multiple times when it looked like the Hurricanes were going to take control.
Sonoraville faced a fivepoint deficit five different times in the fourth and sixpoint deficit at one point, but they battle back each time with huge shots and free throws from different players.
Bryce Waters led the Phoenix with 21 points, and Walraven scored 19, with 16 of those coming in the second half. Trent Daniel added 14, and Reynolds contributed 11.
Sonoraville led 17-16 at the end of the first quarter after a back and forth opening period, and the teams battled to a 34-34 tie at the half. Monroe Area scored the first bucket of the second half and never trailed at any point in the final two quarters.
Gibson scored 25 in the contest for the Hurricanes who now advance to face Westside-Macon in the next round. Devin Sheats added 16, and Jakia Thompson scored 10.
Mashburn said despite the loss that this team should be proud of what they’ve done this season to bring the program to a new level.
“That’s what I shared with them in the locker room is there will come a time after the hurt wears off that they will look back and be extremely proud of this season,” said Mashburn. “I told them several weeks back that the proudest thing for me is that they have changed the expectations for Sonoraville boys basketball for themselves, their family, their classmates and everyone associated with it. From now on, it doesn’t matter who we play, the expectation is going to be to go out and win that game.
“These five seniors leave behind a better program than they found it. They are great kids and hard workers, and I’m going to miss the heck out of them.”