Cesar Chavez came up just short two years ago in losing to North in the 5A-I title game. In order to reach that spot again it had to knock off No. 2 seed and favored Pinnacle on Thursday night in the Divsion I boys semifinals at Jobing.com Arena.

With clutch shooting late and in overtime from standout guard J.D. Reagan and key plays by center L.J. Harmon,  the Champions toppled Pinnacle, 62-58, to earn a spot in the Division I boys title game

Chavez (27-5) faces Corona del Sol, a 49-46 winner over Desert Vista in the other semifinal, on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Jobing.com for the D-I championship. Pinnacle ended the year frustrated with a glossy 30-4 record. A cold-shooting first quarter and  overtime period (1-of-8 shooting) will be part of the bad memories along with Reagan's marksmanship.  

Reagan a 5-foot-11 senior guard, hit a very tough 25-footer to tie the game at 50 with 11.6 seconds left  in regulation. Reagan, who finished with 27 points, put Chavez ahead to stay 54-52 by hitting a pull-up jumper with 2:30 left in overtime. A 12-footer at the 1:02 mark extended the lead to 58-54 and that put cold-shooting Pinnacle away in the overtime session.

Reagan connected on 9-of-18 shots, including five 3-point shots. Eleven of his points came in the fourth period and overtime.

"Reagan has ice water in his veins," Cesar Chavez coach Gary Lee said. "He's waited behind some of the kids we had last year. We want him to have the ball in those situations and he wants it. He has a great stroke."

Harmon, a 6-6 reserve post, has slowly added to the Champions off their bench and has given them a defensive presence in the middle that disrupts penetration and other team's big men. To start the overtime, Harmon made a short jumper and followed that at the other end with a block. His alley-oop layin from Jesse Salazar kept Chavez in front in overtime.

"The big thing for us was playing good defense," Lee said. "A team as talented as Pinnacle, we had to play good D. We did a good job of it early and really good in the overtime."

Pinnacle was very young yet almost ready to be state-title material last season in 5A Division II. The extra year with predominantly underclassmen maturing, had allowed the Pioneers to be on the doorstep of their first title-game appearance. The performance of Reagan prevented that.

Junior guard-forward Drew Bender led Pinnacle with 23 points.Seniors Cody McDavis and Kevin Bowman closed their careers with 11 and nine points, respectively. Sophomore Dorian Pickens also scored nine points.

Pinnacle started slowly with pressure from Chavez and at times sloppy passing. Pinnacle committed seven turnovers in the first period and made just 3-of-14 shots from the field. Five Chavez players scored in the first quarter and 6-of-13 shooting combined for a 15-7 Chavez lead after the first eight minutes.

Bender, after a slow start offensively, found the range in the second period scoring 10 points -- from inside and outside. That helped rally the Pioneers to a 26-26 tie at halftime. Bender  made four free throws in the final 1:28 of regulation -- two at 1:28 left  and two more with 23.6 seconds left that gave his team the lead 50-47. Reagan ruined Bender's heroics with his game-tying trio.