Cibola survives Kofa's comeback

After a disastrous third quarter, the Cibola boys basketball team looked destined to collapse after leading by 15 points in the first half at Kofa.

That's when Brett Boyer stepped in.

The senior Raider guard scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter and hit a critical 3-pointer late as Cibola survived a furious King comeback to end the regular season with a 61-54 win on the road in a battle of teams likely to make the postseason.

“Brett's kind of been the unsung hero of this team,” Cibola coach Tim Keller said. “Everybody needed to have him pick us up and he came out and did it.”

With the Raiders (14-4) leading 55-52 with 1:24 left, Jordan Mitchell led a fast break down the right sideline as Boyer sprinted down the left and spotted up at the wing. Mitchell found the wide-open shooter and Boyer hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter that provided the backbreaker for Cibola.

“We had eye connection the whole time, I knew he was going to pass it to me,” said Boyer.

Deante Gaines scored 13 points for the Raiders and Steven Loucks had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Mitchell, while struggling mightily shooting — 2 for 9 from the field and 2 for 7 from the free-throw line — still was a presence on the floor, finishing with eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

For the Kings, the only scoring came from just three players — post Orlando Lopez, guard Daniel Santana and post Jan Belchoir. Lopez took advantage of Cibola posts being in foul-trouble, leading the Kings (10-8) with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Santana, who shot just 2 for 12 on 3-pointer shots, made several tough baskets in the paint to finish with 21 points.

Based on the first 12 minutes of the game, Kofa's senior night seemed to look like a Cibola rout. A pair of Boyer free throws made it 27-12 with 4 minutes to go in the second. That's when the Kings came back from the dead.

Santana scored eight points and the Kings cut it to 31-25 going into halftime.

Cibola continued to keep collapsing in the third quarter. Managing just one field goal in the period and shooting 4 for 11 from the line — including Mitchell going an unheard of 0 for 5 — Kofa continued to take advantage of cautious, foul-plagued Raider squad.

“They were so worried about getting a fourth or fifth foul so we didn't play well on defense,” said Keller. “And when we don't play well on defense, we don't play well on offense.”

Gaines, who was guarding Lopez for much of the night, picked up his fourth foul 26 seconds into the second half.

Trailing 34-33, the Kings grabbed their first lead since 2-1 on a Lopez three-point play and the Kings went into the final quarter up 40-37. Despite seeing the lead crumbling, Keller allowed the Raiders to play through it, refusing to call a timeout the entire quarter. Partly, though, he was lucked out by Kofa coach Danilo Montialli calling timeout to give some rest to his exhausted players.

“I wanted them all for the fourth,” Keller said of his timeouts. “And every time I was going to call timeout, Danilo did.”

With his team struggling offensively, Boyer opened up the fourth quarter with a free throw to cut the lead to two, then made fastbreak layup to tie it. Moments later, Boyer hit a three to give Cibola a 43-40 lead — and the Raiders led the rest of the way.

For Kofa, who suffered their fourth straight loss, the process of climbing their way out of a 15-point hole may have kept them fatigued for the final quarter.

“We were exhausted,” Santana said.

Kofa, which entered the night No. 6 in Division I Section I, should still be safe enough to make the sectional tournament. Cibola, No. 4 in the section, will enter sectionals on Tuesday with the momentum of a gutsy win.

“They broke down,” Keller said of his team allowing Kofa back into the game. “But they brought it back together themselves rather than me getting in their heads to bring it back.”