Sahuaro lost to Deer Valley 69-66 in overtime in the first round of the Open Division playoffs last winter and the two teams met up again in the championship game of the 4A bracket where Deer Valley prevailed 63-61 in another overtime match. Under the rules of the Open Division for basketball, teams that lose in the first two rounds are sent back to their respective conference brackets and Deer Valley lost to eventual Open champion Perry 78-49 in the second round, which also sent the Skyhawks back to the 4A bracket.

Sahuaro is 8-0 this year, including three wins at the Dick McConnel Thanksgiving Classic, where the Cougars beat Catalina Foothills 57-54 on the last day. Cisco Llamas scored two points in that victory due to an injury but he poured in 34 in a regular season rematch on Tuesday night on the road in a 73-69 victory. Catalina Foothills (5-3) battled back three times in the game to make it close at the end.

Sahuaro led 14-6 early, fueled by back-to-back three pointers from Llamas, but Yuri Lee responded with two of his own to cut the lead down to 16-14 with 1:11 left in the quarter. Teddy Simpson put the Cougars up 18-14 with 8.1 seconds left. Melvin Stubbs cut the lead down to 18-17 15 seconds into the second quarter but the Cougars built a 35-25 lead with 47 seconds left in the half and then 52-33 with 2:01 left in the third.

It looked like the Cougars were going to pull away at that point but Stubbs scored ten points in a 16-2 run to cut the Sahuaro lead down to 54-49 with 6:20 left in the game. Sahuaro center Jamal Ali hit two huge 3’s to help put the Cougars back up 70-56 with 2:36 left but Kyree Harder nine points down the stretch and Coronado hit on a 3 to make things close but Llamas made three free throws to hold the Falcons off 73-69.

“It happens sometimes,” Sahuaro head coach James Henry said on the comebacks from Catalina Foothills. “Foothills amped up their defensive intensity a bit and we also relaxed after our big lead. There was a lot of basketball left and we made the game more interesting than we needed to.”

Sahuaro is scheduled to take part in the Pima College Aztec Classic over the break to help prepare for another playoff run from the 4A Kino region.

“I’ve been very fortunate with a lot of good basketball players and we returned a lot of guys from last year’s team,” Henry added. “They know what our goals are and we have solid leadership with guys on the floor who can do the kinds of things we want to do.”

Besides Llamas, Ali added 16 and Jamaal McCraney added. That’s the nucleus to help get the Cougars back in the playoffs. The Falcons compete in the 5A Conference under Josh Kollasch and the team won a conference play-in game last year before losing to Cactus Shadows 58-54 in the first round in the 8-9 game. Cactus Shadows went on to lose to top-seeded Ironwood 74-45 in the quarterfinals. The Falcons are hoping to improve their position in the playoffs this year.

The first step in that direction is a spot in the NIKE Tournament of Champions in the first week of January. Stubbs had 21 points against Sahuaro, Harder had 16, Coronado added 10 and Lee had nine.

Cisco Llamas is covered by Kyree Harder. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)