Cienega over Ironwood Ridge 92-62

January 3, 2024 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Jaden Rodgers. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Cienega improved to 11-5 on the year thanks to a 96-62 win at Ironwood Ridge Wednesday night. The Bobcats are also 7-1 in power-ranking games with the first set of AIA rankings set to be released next Tuesday, Jan. 9 and the Nighthawks are now 4-11 overall and 2-7 in ranking games.

This is the fourth time the Bobcats have scored over 80 points this year and the first time breaking 90 points since the program put together 98 points in a victory over Desert View last year. The team features four players scoring in double figures with senior Isaac Sdobnev (16.4) leading the pack along with Jackson Moore (12.9), Jaden Rodgers (11.0) and Evan Golembieski (10.1).

Jack Erdman. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Sdobnev scored a team-high 20 points in the victory including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Golembieski had 14, Rodgers added 14, Moore had 11, Thomas Noyes had 11 and Pascal Hussein finished with 11.

The Bobcats went out to a 9-4 lead but the Nighthawks battled back to go up 15-14 with 3:06 left in the first quarter only to have Cienega go on a 14-0 run for a 28-15 lead. Cienega sprinted out to a 58-31 lead at the half and then 79-47 after three.

Nighthawk junior Carter Brown has assumed the lead role for the program with the graduation of six seniors including Andrew Cain who averaged 19.5 points an outing and is now a freshman baseball player for the University of Arizona. Brown scored a game-high 24 points in the loss, Jack Erdman added 13 and Tristan Tarpley scored six.

Both squads have a bit of a break with Ironwood Ridge hosting Nogales (7-4, 5-2) on Tuesday and Cienega travels to Cholla (7-5, 5-2) the same night.