The No.7-ranked Chandler Wolves used strong defense and great free throw shooting down the stretch to hold off the Basha Bears 59-53.

The Wolves took the court last night without their leading scorer Carson Kelly.

The junior point guard, averaging just over 20 points per game, could be seen with a cast on his right hand and wrist as the Wolves went through their pregame warmups.

“It was an adjustment period. This was our first game without him. We just needed guys to step up and figure out their new roles and figure out our new identity without him." Chandler head coach Jonathan Rother said. "And our guys played really well, especially Trey (Hollis) a sophomore we had called up.”

The opening quarter consisted of a balanced inside attack established by Chandler while Basha used the three-point shot to counter. The Bears took an 18-16 lead into the second quarter.

The inside attack continued for the Wolves in the second quarter and was led by junior Nick Riley, who had 10 points at the break and finished with 21 overall.

The Bears' shooting cooled off in the quarter with junior guard Trenton McLaughlin scoring six of Basha’s eight points as Chandler took a 28-24 lead to the locker room.

After a quiet first half, Chandler power forward Elijah Johnson sparked the Wolves third quarter scoring with his own dominant inside attack.

“I was just thinking to myself that I needed to pick up the energy and help my team get in the game," he said. "I needed to pick it up defensively because (the Bears) were getting a lot of open shots and we had to take over the game."

While Basha guard CJ Noder found his stroke in the third keeping the game within striking distance at 43-36 heading into the fourth quarter.

Early into final period Chandler had its largest lead of the game at 47-37, but a turnover leading to a McLaughlin three pointer and a fumbled Wolves defensive rebound that led to a McLaughlin layup to cut the lead in half.

Several fouls by the Bears put the Wolves on the line for a goof portion of the remaining 3:36. However, after an offensive foul by Chandler sophomore Trey Hollis, Basha junior guard Thomas Hastings hit a three to bring the Bears within one at 51-50 with 1:51 left.

Chandler would respond on the front end of a missed one-and-one as Nick Riley grabbed the offensive board and scored on the put back pushing the lead back to three, 53-50.

A Basha basket and two big free throws by Johnson kept the lead at three, in the final minute Basha had two separate chances to tie the game, but missed threes by both captains Noder and McLaughlin resulted in another trip to the line for Johnson.

Chandler (17-6, 4-2 Premier Region) will look ahead to next week’s rematch with the Brophy Broncos (15-7, 4-1) who handily beat the Wolves 68-46 in their matchup earlier this season.

Basha (12-11, 3-3) will also face the Broncos this coming week. Brophy came away with a 61-50 win in their previous matchup.