Training Day

Leading Gila Ridge 40-39 with 7 seconds to play and a chance to extend their lead at the foul line, Yuma Catholic found out the hard way about one particular rule involving foul shooting.

One of the Shamrock players standing around the key backed out of his designated spot early, a violation which drew a whistle and cost his team free throws.

The one-point lead held up as the Hawks' final 3-point attempt was off the mark, but the win was not nearly as valuable to Yuma Catholic as the lesson learned.

"I've got eight sophomores and two juniors with no seniors for next year," YC coach Brooks Neumann said. "This gives them the kind of experience we need, because we don't have any."

Friday's Gila Ridge Summer Basketball Tournament gave eight boys high school teams an early chance to familiarize themselves with each other, and get a sneak peak at some of their competition for the 2009-2010 season. The tournament continues today with games starting every hour from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"These let me see who can get it done in competition," Neumann said of the tournaments. "Everybody can do it in practice, but it's tougher to do when you're not playing your teammates and they're keeping score. Gila Ridge is a good school with big-time athletes, so that was a big win for their confidence."

San Luis - with only six players - and new head coach Guillermo Flores quickly fell behind 14-0 in their first game of the day against Gila Valley Region newcomer Lake Havasu before Alan Pina dropped in a couple buckets inside.

"Most of these kids know who I am because I coached a while back and then took a break before coming back," Flores said. "But I've got to get to know their game and they've got to get to know me, so there's a big learning process going on."

The Knights, playing without their head coach, easily won 51-22 behind 17 points from starting point guard Aaron Troyer and expect to be contenders in their first year at the 5A-II level.

"We've known this was coming for a while and we've got a good team this year. We only lost two seniors last year, so we should be better" said Troyer, who also plays baseball for Havasu. "We've got a couple more tournaments in the summer, so everyone just needs to just do their job, know their role and play hard."

Cibola beat Southwest (Calif.) 55-48 and outplayed them for much of their meeting, but the Eagles hung around thanks to a pair of sharpshooting guards and a number of Raider misses at the foul line.