1/22/18, Falcons 59, Flagstaff Eagles 54 (at Flagstaff)
In a road trip to snowy Flagstaff, the Falcons had a battle on their hands the entire night. Both teams came out shooting well from deep, and trading buckets to a 17-17 tie at the end of the 1st quarter. The Eagles scored the 1st 5 points of the 2nd, but the Falcons countered with a 14-3 run to take the lead 31-25 with 3 minutes left in the half. Each team cooled off from behind the arc, and Flagstaff closed the gap to a 33-30 Cactus Shadows lead at halftime.
The entire 2nd half was very tight, with the Falcons hanging on to mostly a one possession lead throughout the half. CSHS took a 47-45 lead into the 4th, and traded baskets up to a 53-52 lead with 1:30 to play. The Falcons were fouled on the next 2 possessions, hitting 3 of 4 FTs, but the Eagles came back with a driving layup to get within 2 points, 56-54 with 26 seconds remaining. Junior Duncan Hearn was then fouled with 18.5 seconds left, and hit 1 of 2 FTs to give the Falcons a 57-54 lead. After decent ball movement, the Eagles got the ball into the hands of Troy Yazzie, their best 3-point shooter on the night, who had a good look from behind the top left arc, but missed off front rim, and the Falcons grabbed the rebound to seal the road win.
Junior Jake Benci (20 points, 6 rebounds), Junior CJ Nnorom (16 points), and Junior Sam Goulet (10 points, 14 rebounds) lead the Falcons in the victory.
1/25/18, Falcons 62, St. Mary’s Knights 53 (at Cactus Shadows)
This game marked the first opportunity for the Falcons to avenge a prior loss to a team on the season, and they did not disappoint. CSHS came out of the gate strong in front of the home crowd with a 1st quarter lead of 14-8, and extended the margin to 26-16 at halftime. In comparison to the loss earlier in the month to the Knights, the Falcons improved in the two areas that hurt them in game 1, rebounding and defense. The Knights won the rebounding battle and had 9 total 2nd chance points in the first game, with 45% shooting from 3, but in game 2, CSHS crashed the boards, and held St. Mary’s to 1 point on 2nd chance attempts, and held the Knights to 30% 3-ball shooting on the same number of attempts. CSHS also hit 26 of 29 FTs in the game, to help nail down the win.
Junior CJ Nnorom (16 points), Junior Sam Goulet (14 points, 5 rebounds), and Junior Duncan Hearn (11 points, 7 rebounds) lead Cactus Shadows to the W.
FALCON’S RECORD: Overall: 18–3, Section: 3–2. Ranked #5, Division 4A
WHATS NEXT: Tuesday, 1/30/18, 7pm at Thunderbird Chiefs, Phoenix. Next home game, Senior Night, Friday, 2/2/18, 7pm, vs. Saguaro Sabercats, CSHS Blue Gym, 5802 E. Dove Valley Rd., Cave Creek. $5 admission.
