Raiders kept at bay
Cibola fares better against Tucson in rematch of Dec. 1 loss, still falls short in region championship game
It was a little more than three months ago when the Cibola boys basketball team was at, arguably, the lowest point of its 2017-18 season. The Raiders were run out of the gym by Tucson High in an 80-49 loss, then lost to Yuma Catholic by 22 later that evening in the Southwest Rotary Classic.
So while the result of the rematch with Tucson on Tuesday — this time, for the 6A Southern region championship — was another defeat, this time around, it was much different.
The Raiders (10-8 AIA, 4-1 6A Southern) got within seven points with five minutes to go, but Tucson (9-9, 5-0 6A Southern) quickly returned the margin to the comfortable, low double-digits it had been at for most of the game, which eventually stretched to an 85-67 final.
“We competed better, and our kids connected better,” Cibola coach Ron Bratton said, when asked to compare Tuesday’s region-championship loss to the Dec. 1 game. “We stayed together, but, you know, sometimes another team hits more shots than you do. And what do you do?”
The shooting advantage the Badgers had was evident early. They led, 12-4, and minutes later, a sequence of 3-pointers by Marcus Hinojosa, Joseph Shelby and Derek Williams put the score at 19-9.
The Badgers’ frenetic pace unraveled the Raiders in the early-season meeting, and it looked to do so again Tuesday. Tucson is an undersized team that lives with speed and shooting, and it thrives in creating chaos and wrapping its opponent in it.