Cibola relies on deep ball to blow out Kofa

Raiders sink 13 three-pointers to finish the regular season

If Tuesday’s performance was the final one of the season for Cibola boys basketball, the team will have something to hang its hat on.

The Raiders (12-6 AIA, 4-0 region) are hoping that’s not the case though, but now can only sit and wait to find out what their future holds after a 78-36 win over Kofa (6-12 AIA, 2-2 region), which capped off a perfect season in district play (8-0).

Cibola sits at 26th in 6A, while the top 24 teams make the postseason. For now, they have to sit and wait to see if that win was enough to put them over the hump. The play-in round pairings are announced at 10:30 a.m. today.

On Tuesday the team didn’t let that added pressure loom over a sharp oncourt performance. The Raiders jumped out early on their crosstown rivals and never looked back by shooting 10-for-13 from three in the first half and making 13 in the game.

“In the first half the ball touched the paint and that’s where our advantage was,” Cibola coach Ron Bratton said. “Our advantage was with our height inside, and because of that it collapsed the zone and everything got kicked out.”

“They made a lot of threes and shot a really high percentage against what we were doing,” Kofa coach Jeff Frazine said. “We just weren’t able to defend them the way that we wanted to from the perimeter tonight.”

The Kings’ failure to close out on three-point shooters

CHS: 12-6 AIA, 4-0 region KHS: 6-12 AIA, 2-2 region

came after Cibola would work the ball inside-out against the zone, letting the game get out of control early. The game was tied at 10 midway through the first quarter, before a 21-2 run predicated on the deep ball put the Raiders up big at 31-12 early in the second quarter.

Cibola guard Chris Fernandez (15 points and four assists) made three threes in the first half, while the rest of the team rallied behind that.

A lot of those open looks started with forward Glenn Baxter’s (10 points, five rebounds and five assists) ability to kick the ball out from the soft spots in the middle of the zone.

“The key to our team is our post play,” Bratton said.