PERRY: 18-20-14-17: 61

TUCSON: 22-15-9-18: 64

 

PERRY: Vik Babic 6 (2) 6-7: 20; LJ Diamond 8 (2): 18; JJ Howard 5 (3) 2-2: 15; Kolby Barnes 4 (2) 0-2: 10; Austin Turner 3 0-1: 6, TOTALS: 26 (9) 8-12: 69.

TUCSON: Malaki Cunningham-Hiadzi 6 9-12: 21; Patrick Flores 6 (4) 1-2: 17; Tavion Okougbo 4 (2) 1-3: 11; Jaylan Knight 3 (2) 2-2: 10; Christian Allen 1 (1): 3; Nitai Buchler 1: 2. TOTALS: 21 (9) 13-19: 64.

 

No. 7 Perry led No. 6 Tucson 62-48 with 6:07 left in the 6A semifinal contest played Wednesday night in Tucson, but the Badgers chipped away at the lead, cutting it down to 66-64 with 27.2 seconds left. The Puma lead moved to 67-64 on a free throw from Vik Babic with 16.1 seconds left on the clock but his miss on the first attempt gave the Badgers two chances to tie the game. A missed three-point attempt with 12.1 seconds left was followed by a miss with 4.5 seconds left and Babic clinched the 69-64 victory with two made free throws after he was fouled on the final rebound.

Perry (12-16) advances to the 6A Conference championship game scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. against No. 5 Liberty (21-9). The game will be part of a full slate of championships games held at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday:

No. 4 Highland will face No. 6 Valley Vista at 11 a.m. in the girls 6A championship game, Perry and Liberty play at 2 p.m., No. 3 Millennium will play No. 4 O’Connor at 5 p.m. in the girls Open Division championship and No. 1 Sunnyslope will play No. 3 St. Mary’s at 8 p.m. for the boys Open Division championship.

Liberty topped No. 1 Mesa 67-50 in the other 6A semifinal game played at Mesa Wednesday night to set up the game with Perry.

Perry has 16 losses on the year but six of those came to out of state teams and several came during invitational play. The Pumas also lost to Open Division powers Sunnyslope, Basha (twice) and St. Mary’s and the Pumas also lost to Tucson at home 70-63 in December – hence the high ranking.

Tucson started out hot, building a 22-13 lead with 2:01 left in the first quarter but the Badgers went silent the rest of the way while Perry scored five points in that stretch to cut the lead down to 22-18. The Badgers were unable to shake the Pumas in the second quarter and another scoring drought in the final 1:54 of the half turned a 37-33 lead into a 38-37 deficit.

The Badgers only scored nine points in the third quarter but the team was only down 48-42 with 3:51 left. The team failed to score again until Tavion Okougbo made a free throw with 56 seconds left and Patrick Flores nailed a deep shot as time expired to cut the Perry lead down to 52-46 after three.

Babic made back-to-back three-pointers to give Perry a 62-48 lead with 6:07 left in the game but the Badgers went on the 16-4 run to cut the lead down to 66-64.

“Tucson is a great team. They're one of the best coached teams,” Perry head coach Justin Collard said. “They run good stuff. Their players are unselfish. They're fundamental. I mean, the way they switch up defenses. So I'm proud of our guys. To be able to win against the team.”

Babic led Perry with 20 points, LJ Diamond had 18 and JJ Howard and Kolby Barnes scored 10 each. Malaki Cunningham-Hiadzi led all scorers with 21, Flores had 17, Okougbo finished with 11 and Jaylan Knight had 10.

 

 

OVERTIME

 

Several members of the University of Arizona men’s basketball team attended the game along with freshman Koa Peat, who was a high school All-American for the Pumas. “They're one of the best teams in the world,” Collard said on the Arizona players sitting behind his bench and what that might have done to his players mantally. “They won the big 12, which is unbelievable, one of the best leagues in the world of basketball. So it only helped them. So it only helped us. It probably made us one point better, which is always good.”

A full crowd of over 1,100 fans attended the game which caused the need for a shuttle service to an off campus parking lot.

Tucson has eight state championships with the last coming in 1969. 1969 was also the last time the Badgers played on the final day.

Perry is coming off of four consecutive championships including three straight Open Division titles under Peat.

Legendary Perry head coach Sam Duane Jr. retired after last season with 494 wins and eight state championships. Duane previously led Corona del Sol to four straight titles from 2012-2015. Koa Peat’s older brother Cassius was part of that championship streak for Duane at Corona del Sol.

Justin Collard is in his first year leading the Pumas but he coached Boulder Creek to three straight semifinal appearances from 2022-2024 before moving over.

Former Badger Eric Langford led Tucson to its first semifinal finish since 1969. Langford played for Eastern Arizona and then GCU, where he averaged 16.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in 57 games with the Antelopes from 1994-96. He then put together a 13-year professional career overseas and in Mexico. His first year as the Badger’s head coach came during COVID in 2020.