Southern Arizona is known for doubleheaders in the spring but the cloud of COVID forced some creative scheduling in the winter season with multiple programs pairing up basketball games at the same venue and that was the case Thursday night with Walden Grove traveling to Amphitheater. The boys took to the hardwood first with Walden Grove pulling away for a 50-39 victory and the Amphitheater girls returned the favor with a 50-40 win in the nightcap. Coincidentally, the two schools met at Walden Grove Monday night with the same results.

Walden Grove beat Amphitheater 48-47 Monday and it looked like the Panthers were ready to avenge that loss after jumping out to a 10-2 lead but that was one of five similar leads to fade away in the game with the last coming in the fourth quarter.

Down 33-31, Michael Hitchings and Gavin Moses hit back-to-back 3’s to give the Panthers a 37-33 with 6:05 left but the Red Wolves went on a massive 17-2 run the rest of the way to pull off the improbable 50-39 final.

The Red Wolves erased that early 10-2 lead to bring the game to 10-8 only to have Amphitheater build a 15-8 midway through the first quarter. That lead was cut back down to 15-14 but the Panthers went back up 21-14 midway through the second quarter. Another run cut the lead down to 21-19 but Amphitheater led 29-21 moments into the second half.

The Panthers only scored four points in the third and Walden Grove eventually took a 31-29 lead with 2:30 left in that quarter on a basket from Mason Miller. Kevin Quintero tied things back up with a couple of free throws but Jackson Klump put Walden Grove back up 33-31 with 7:49 left in the game to set up the final run.

The loss dropped Amphitheater to 2-3 on the year with Sahuarita (0-8) slated to visit Friday night. Moses led the Panthers with 16 points and Quintero added 7. Walden Grove improved to 3-4 and the team is scheduled to visit Desert View (1-4) Friday night. Miller scored a game-high 18 points after scoring 8 of his 10 points down the stretch. Jacob Rosales added 9 and Justin Patterson had 8.

The Amphitheater girls outscored Walden Grove 12-9 in overtime Monday night to win that game 63-60 but the return game at Amphitheater proved to be a bit less stressful for the Panthers with the team building a 28-12 lead at the half and holding on for the 50-40 victory.

Amphitheater (3-3) is led by junior standouts Mat'tanaya Vital and Knowledge Smith. Vital finished with 19 points and Smith added 17. Smith hit four 3’s in the game. The Panthers have quickness and speed on their side but the team is lacking in size so there was no answer for Walden Grove senior Ryan Gilvin.

Gilvin (6-0) scored 18 on the night with 16 coming in the second half. Sophomore Mia Dionisio added 12 points for the Red Wolves.

Walden Grove is winless at 0-7 but the team hosts Desert View (1-5) Friday night and Amphitheater travels to Sahuarita (2-2) on the same night.

https://twitter.com/AZPreps365Andy/status/1362620313909878787