The Flagstaff boys basketball team was handed their fourth loss of the season on Wednesday night, losing 67-54 at home to Cactus Shadows.
After going down 2-0 roughly one minute into the first quarter, senior Ben Janecek hit a 3-pointer to give the Eagles an early 3-2 lead. It would prove to be their only lead of the game.
Flagstaff struggled to get things going offensively in the first quarter, due in part to a stifling full-court press from Cactus Shadows that led to a lot of early Eagles turnovers.
Eagles coach Nick Walton said that the Falcons' defensive strategy initially impacted his team’s offense, but the Eagles were eventually able to work out how to beat the press.
“We were good, it just took us a little bit to settle down,” Walton said. “I think it got us a little bit rattled, but I thought we handled it really well. We were able to pull [Cactus Shadows] out of their press, I think that was their game plan initially, to press and then run a little 1-3-1 rolling zone on us. I thought our guys did a great job, once we settled down, on being able to execute and pull them out of their press and zone. Wish we would’ve recognized it a little bit sooner, but we got it done eventually.”
While it was never able to recapture their early lead, Flagstaff kept the game close enough to make it interesting down the stretch. After ending the first half trailing 38-30, the Eagles took the floor and cut the lead to seven -- the closest they came to regaining the lead. A subsequent 10-4 Falcons run quickly gave Cactus Shadows back the cushion it had enjoyed for most of the game, and effectively put the idea of a Flagstaff comeback to bed.
Cactus Shadows’ offense found the majority of its success inside 15 feet, hitting key mid-range jump shots and scoring often in the paint on layups or second chances from offensive rebounds. The Falcons made just three 3-pointers in the game.
Sophomore Trey Chemin led the Falcons in scoring with 24 points on eight 2-point field goals, five free throws and one 3-pointer. Chemin also scored most of his points in the paint. Second in scoring for Cactus Shadows was senior Josh Adams, who hit two 2-point shots, five free throws and one shot from behind the arc for 12 total points.
Flagstaff’s leading scorer was junior Jake Centner, who put up 16 points on three 2-point field goals, four free throws and two 3-pointers. Janecek was second in scoring with 12 points, going 6-for-6 from the free throw line and hitting two 3’s.
After the loss, Walton stressed that his players shouldn’t focus too hard on not coming up short.
“Basketball has its ups and downs,” Walton said. “You’re going to have high moments and low moments, so you always stress embracing the highs, enjoying them and trying to maintain them. And then when the lows hit, you’ve got to work your way out of it. It’s a true 32-minute game, so we’re really trying to see the big picture on everything.”
Janecek said the team needs to be more patient on offense moving forward.
“We’ve just got to take it one play at a time, that’s all you can do,” Janecek said. “One stop at a time, one bucket at a time, just got to keep working.”
The senior forward said the team needs to keep their heads up and keep working hard to bounce back from the loss.
“Losing is a part of the game,” Janecek said. “Obviously it’s not the outcome we wanted, but we’ve just got to take it one game at a time, put in lots of effort and just keep working.”
Flagstaff drops to 1-4 with the loss, while Cactus Shadows improves to 5-2. The Eagles’ next game will participate in the Pepsi Holiday Tournament beginning Thursday.
*This article was originally published in the Arizona Daily Sun*
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