Evan Nelson scored a game-high 28 points for Salpointe. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

“What’s wrong with Salpointe?”

Nothing.

No. 11 Salpointe (15-15) opened up the year with a 3-14 record and the negative text messages and emails started to flow in, something one would expect from a struggling college program, but Salpointe is not a college team, high school teams play under a different set of rules – compete and win in region play and you will make the playoffs.

Still, the emails kept coming.

Well, the Lancers turned things around right when region play began and the result has been an 11-1 record since Jan. 12, including a double overtime 77-70 win over No. 3 Catalina Foothills in the 4A quarterfinal round on Saturday night.

Catalina Foothills (24-7) won the 4A Kino Region over Salpointe but it was a difficult task. The Falcons beat the Lancers 59-58 on Jan. 18 but Salpointe returned the favor with a 66-62 victory on Feb. 1. There was one game separating the two powerhouse programs in the region and that was a Salpointe loss to Nogales on Jan. 11 – one day before sophomore Mountain View transfer Evan Nelson became eligible to play.

Nelson had to sit out half the year and the first half of the season included two invitationals that do not count towards power-points. The Lancers went 2-6 in the preseason and winter invitationals. Again, those games do not count.

Nelson has averaged 25 points a game in the 12 games he has competed in, including 30 against Rincon/University, 36 against Catalina Foothills, 34 against Washington and 28 against the Falcons on Saturday night.

But Nelson wasn’t the only All-State candidate on the court Saturday night. University of Arizona interest Majok Deng finished with 25 points to compliment Nelson and Sam Beskind scored 27 to lead Catalina Foothills. It was an instant classic.

In a flash, Spencer Lewis, Beskind and Carson James nailed back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Falcons up 9-0 and it felt like the roof was shaking. But, hold on, the Lancers have a rich history of making comebacks against Catalina Foothills.

Down 49-43 in the 4A semifinal battle from last year, the Lancers went on a late 7-0 run to force overtime where they would prevail 57-55 on a last-second shot from Isaac Cruz. This year, Catalina Foothills led Salpointe 51-34 with 6:46 left but the Lancers closed out on a 24-8 run for an improbable comeback that fell short, 59-58.

Would it happen again?

Beskind put Catalina Foothills up 23-13 with 4:12 remaining in the first half but Salpointe went on an 11-0 run to take a 24-23 lead at the break.

Salpointe led 36-33 after three quarters and it looked like Deng had sealed the game with two 3-pointers and a couple of free throws to put the Lancers up 44-41 with 3:58 left but Lewis scored a bucket and Hayden Moser connected on a 3-pointer to put the Falcons up 46-44 with 2:18 left.

Nelson came down and scored with 1:49 left but James hit a 3-pointer to put Catalina Foothills up 49-46 with 1:17 left. Nelson hit another 3-pointer to tie things up with 10. 3 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

Lewis opened up the extra period with another 3, Deng scored and the Beskind added four more to put the Falcons up 56-51 with 1:52 left in OT. Then Nelson took over. Again.

Nelson hit a 3 with 1:35 left and he followed that up with a steal and a bucket to tie the game up at 56-56 with 43.4 seconds left. Beskind put the falcons up by two with 20.4 seconds left but Nelson made two free throws at the other end to send the game to double overtime, 58-58.

Nelson hit another 3 and scored four more to put the Lancers up 65-58 with 2:22 left. Jake Devera hit a 3-pointer for the Falcons, but Orion Ochoa hit two free throws at the other end to make it Salpointe 67-61 with 1:38 left.

James came down and drained another 3 to cut the Salpointe lead down to 67-64 but Deng responded with his own 3 to make it 70-64. The lead would extend to 74-64 with 40.3 seconds left and things looked hopeless. Then came Beskind. Again.

Beskind put in six points in the next 20 seconds but time ran out. Beskind fouled out with 14.6 seconds left on the clock to a standing ovation from the Falcon faithful. With blood dripping down his face, Beskind literally gave everything he had, and more, to Catalina Foothills in the four years he played there. 

In a classy move, Deng ran over to console Beskind. One warrior to another.

“I gave everything I had in me,” Beskind said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better experience or a better group of teammates. I love them and my coaches. I gave everything I had.”

Salpointe would go on to win the game 77-70 to advance to the 4A semifinal round for the second year in a row, but the first under first-year head coach Jim Reynolds. Reynolds is a Hall of Fame coach from Ohio, so he can hardly be regarded as a “newcomer” but his hands will be full again with No. 2 Buckeye (23-4) waiting for him in the semifinal round scheduled for Friday, Feb. 23 at Grand Canyon University.

The Hawks are led by junior Otis Frazier and sophomore Tay Boothman, but Reynolds has Deng and Evans and there is nothing wrong about that.

“We started the game out slow, but my teammates had faith in me and I wanted to do whatever I could to help us win,” Evans said. “Our team has come a long way and we are going to take this as far as we can.”

Beskind had his 27 points, James added 15 and Lewis put in eight. Nelson scored 28, Deng 25 and Ryan Grabosch added nine for Salpointe.

In other action involving teams advancing from Southern Arizona, freshman forward Alyssa Brown scored 30 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lead No. 3 Sahuaro past No. 11 Cienega in a 5A quarterfinal matchup.

No. 8 Sabino and No. 12 Empire won in the 3A bracket and the boys will advance to the quarterfinal round.

In 1A play, the girls of No. 4 Baboquivari and the boys of No. 1 Gregory School earned a spot in the semifinals.