PAYSON — Omar Fierro-Nava scored 20 points, including two big buckets and a pair of clutch free throws in the fourth quarter to push No. 4-ranked Payson over the top in a 50-46 win over No. 8 Chinle on Monday night.

It is the eighth win in nine games for the Longhorns (24-5, 9-2 3A Metro), which trailed 37-33 after three frames but used a 17-9 fourth-quarter run to seal the deal.

Payson head coach Jason Collier said Fierra-Nava has a “motor like I’ve never seen.”

“He plays the whole game, he full-court presses, he guards the best player, and he is our point guard. They try to get all over him, but he has complete composure,” Collier said. “He does an amazing job reading defenses and his motor is unstoppable.”

The 5-foot-10 senior point guard said a lot of clubs recently have been “sleeping on us lately.”

“Last year wasn’t really our season, but this year, all new coaching staff, focusing on defense. Defense is what is keeping us in it right now,” Fierra-Nava said.

Tied 21-21 at halftime, Chinle (21-5, 10-0 3A North) came out of the locker room on a 9-2 run capped by an Aidan Kinlichee bucket, making it 30-23 Wildcats at the 5:35 mark and forcing Collier to call a timeout to regroup his Longhorns.

Cadyn Sanchez immediately responded, hitting a big 3-pointer for Payson to cut Chinle’s lead to four. Later in the fourth quarter, Bryson Waterman-Echols tied the game at 37-37 with a bucket, then Payton Stuart hit another 3-pointer to give the Longhorns a 40-38 lead, which they would not relinquish.

Chinle head coach C.J. Woods pointed to his club’s struggles at the charity stripe and the inability to make big shots as to why they lost.

“We missed a lot of free throws, timely free throws. And we missed shots. Normally, we hit 10 or more threes, so you come into a place where you’re not hitting shots, you have to manufacture points inside. For us, this is a great learning point,” Woods said.

The Wildcats were just 9 of 18 from the free-throw line and had won 15 straight games before Monday night’s loss.

“For Payson, you can’t teach length, you can’t teach size. They do a great job of coaching, great culture, so props to them,” Woods said.

Jaiden Lee scored only one bucket in the second half for Chinle, finishing with 13 points. No other Wildcat was in double-figures scoring in the loss.

UP NEXT

The Longhorns host No. 10-ranked Gilbert Christian in their regular-season finale Tuesday, Feb. 3. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

With Chinle’s regular-season schedule now complete, the Wildcats head into the 3A North Region Tournament, which opens Tuesday. They will face the winner of the Page-Window Rock game on Thursday at 7 p.m.

If Chinle can defeat the winner of the Page-Window Rock game on Thursday, the 3A North Region Tournament championship game is slated for Saturday, Feb. 7, in Chinle at 2 p.m.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.