Time to step up

Nick Chavez, Kevin Harrison, Adrian Rios, Arturo Lopez and Garret Firestone know a little bit about winning.

In fact, they've never lost a high school basketball game together.

The five Cibola juniors have won 35-of-36 games over the last two years, playing at the freshman and junior varsity levels. Their only loss came last year when Firestone was moved up to varsity.

"We probably could've moved some of them up last year, but we kept them there so they could have some success at the JV level," Cibola coach Gary Abercrombie said. "Now it's their time to move up and see if they could play at this level."

Chavez, Harrison, Rios, Lopez and Firestone might not necessarily be leaned on as heavily right away as they were at the lower levels.

They join a couple of key returners in senior point guard Andrew Aldama and forward Pat Caswell. The Raiders also have a pair of transfers who are expected to contribute: Tyler Turner is a 6-foot-2 guard, who relocated from New Mexico, where he averaged nine points per game for 5A District 4 state champion Hobbs High School as a junior. His brother, Austin, plays for Arizona Western College. And 6-3 sophomore Charles Weekly played some varsity as a freshman in California.

"It'll be interesting to see how it all fits together," Abercrombie said. "After 36 years, usually I can tell if a team is going to be any good or not. This bunch is kind of a mystery. Until we go out and play a game or two I'm really not going to have an idea of how good we are."

While Cibola is trying to meld some returners, transfers and the core group of juniors into a team, Yuma High is loaded with experience.

The Criminals have 12 seniors on the roster this year - not one underclassmen.

"This is the first time I've ever had a team this full of seniors, and they've all had some experience," Yuma coach Louie Pisano said. "We're hoping for some good things, but you never know.

"They all came up as freshmen together, so there's good team chemistry, and I think they all respect one another, so they kind of all lead together."

Yuma returns three starters from a year ago - sharpshooting guard Ricardo Quintero, and athletic frontcourt players Carlos Wallett and Steven Rojano.

Rojano typically guarded opponents' top offensive player last year. Pisano added that he's impressed with his improvement on both ends this year.

"He'll probably be our go-to guy," Pisano said. "He's just 110 miles per hour. I just can't tell you how much energy he plays with on both ends of the floor.

While anything can happen in 5A Gila Valley Region games, the region title could come down to the experience at Yuma High versus how well the Raiders make the different pieces fit.

"I think Cibola, with all those guys they have moving in there, might be the top dog," Pisano said.

Abercrombie said he thinks Yuma is the team to beat.

"We're just a little bit young," he said. "I think we're probably a little inexperienced to take the region from Yuma, but it should be interesting. It's going to be close."

---

Derrik Miller can be reached at
dmiller@yumasun.com or 782-6520.