VAIL – The fact his team couldn’t hold a 16-6 second-quarter lead certainly concerned Lotus School for Excellence head coach Sami Jabai. And it didn’t overly concern him when Ignacio senior Gabe Tucson took sophomore Gabe Cox’s touch pass in the paint and dropped in a short-range basket to tie the Class 2A Region IV semifinal at 20-20 about 20 seconds before halftime.
“We were prepared for this one, man,” Jabi said. “I just had to remind them at the half: ‘Just be us! I know it’s a little bit of a different atmosphere, but just be us!’ I told them it was zero-zero, and if we come out doing what we know we can, we’d stretch the lead a little bit.”
But in the third quarter, it was the underdog Bobcats that did the expansion.
“In the locker room we were all excited,” sophomore Phillip Quintana said. “We were all ready to go, but hoping we wouldn’t mess up the third again … like we always do.”
Tucson began by drilling a midrange pull-up deuce. The Meteors answered with back-to-back buckets, but Cox retied the game at 24 with a short jumper. Tucson then converted a putback for a 26-24 lead. Increasing their pressure, the Cats, seeded 20th in the CHSAA Class 2A state tournament’s opening round of 32 teams, extended their advantage to 30-24 via an Eppie Quintana baseline take of a quick Cox feed, forcing 13-seed Lotus into a timeout with 3:37 left.
“I think we made a couple adjustments on their penetration, shut their penetration down, and got to where we could tie it up by halftime,” IHS head coach Chris Valdez said. “But then the third quarter …. We’ve been the worst third-quarter team in the league, those first four or five minutes; we came out strong those four, five minutes, got that six-point lead.”
“If we could have stuck right there, going back and forth, we’d have been OK,” he said. “But we made three or four major mistakes, they got a lead, and then they kind of took over.”
Led by the backcourt of seniors Adani Hassan and Elias Dessalegn, the Meteors stayed close despite Tucson’s go-ahead trey in the Vail Mountain’s gym, giving Ignacio a 33-32 lead entering the fourth quarter. Lotus senior Petros “Peter” Tareke answered with a triple to begin the fourth, and the Meteors grew their lead to 39-33 on a Dessalegn basket.
Tucson (15 points) interrupted with a pair of free throws, but Aurora-based Lotus went into the final three minutes up 44-37 after Hassan hit one of two free throw attempts. The Bobcats cut the deficit to 44-41 via two Cox free throws, but got no closer as the Meteors went into a slow-down offense.
“We were looking (to) foul one of their players, get them on the line, or just try to get them to move the ball around a bit more,” said Cox.
“We kind of fell apart a bit,” Valdez said. “They were able to start penetrating, then pulled it back — we just aren’t quick enough to guard them.”
“That’s my players’ doing,” Jabai said. “Adani, he has a really good handle and understands the game. Peter, he’s controlled with ball in hand, and A.J. (senior Ahmed Jabai), just rarely makes mistakes. I can trust them with the ball.”
Nailing 8 of 10 fourth-quarter free throws, then icing the game with a steal and buzzer-beating layup, Hassan finished with 18 points. Dessalegn also logged 18, while junior Caleb Bafukila (8 points), Tareke (6) and Jabai (2) rounded out the Meteors’ scoring.
The Meteors finished 15 of 20 at the foul line, including 6 of 7 before the fourth quarter. Ignacio went 7 of 9 with Tucson going 4 of 4 and Cox, 3 of 5. Cox totaled 13 points, junior Eppie Quintana added six, sophomore Devante Montoya scored five, including a 3-pointer that sparked IHS’ first-half rally, and Phillip Quintana chipped in two.
“You know, we ran into a team that was a real mismatch for us because we don’t run man-to-man, and if they got a lead we knew they were going to pull the ball out, and that’s what hurt us,” Valdez said. “But for my team … man I’m proud of them! We went 16 and 7, and that’s pretty good for a team that had one starter (Tucson) back from last year.”
“We’ll have a lot of kids coming back, so this speaks volumes of what they can do.”
“I think it was my best game,” Cox said. “Double digits in points, had good rebounds, had a really good block. Gabe Tucson, I feel bad for him because this was his last year, but we have a young team, and we’re coming back next year for sure.”
Lotus advanced to play No. 4 Vail Mountain High School in the championship. Vail won its semifinal over No. 29 Lyons, 53-43.
The Meteors improved to 19-4 overall and earned their place in the Great Eight phase by stunning Vail Mountain 36-28.
The Gore Rangers finished 18-4 overall; Lyons ended up 13-10.
