Rams get first win over rival Shamrocks since 2001

Yuma Catholic dominated Antelope on the boards throughout their game Tuesday night in Wellton.

But the Rams got the rebounds when they mattered, coming back for a 47-44 win against their rivals for their first win over the Shamrocks since 2001.

"It feels good, I'm not going to lie," Antelope coach Ron Bratton said. "But more it feels good for my kids. They're always measured up against them and it's good to get one."

The Shamrocks (5-7) led throughout the third and took a two-point lead into the fourth. A.J. Cota drained a 3-point shot with 6 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game to put Antelope (5-6) on top, then the Rams scored six straight on offensive rebounds during the next 2 minutes and opened a 39-32 lead.

"They're bigger than us, so they're going to get some advantages," Bratton said. "But the fourth quarter is when we stopped them."

The Shamrocks finished the game with a 46-33 rebounding edge, but Antelope had a 15-14 edge in the fourth quarter.

YC kept getting the lead to five but never close, as the Shamrocks missed all seven 3-point attempts in the fourth and 14 in the game.

"We didn't shoot the ball well all night," Yuma Catholic coach Brooks Neumann said. "Bradley Crye is averaging 25 points per game and he didn't shoot the ball well tonight. It looked a little like we were flat, but I have to give Antelope credit. They did what they have to do to win."

Crye scored eight points on 4-for-18 shooting. Daniel Adame led the Shamrocks with 20 points on 10-of-17 shooting and had a game-high 13 rebounds. The rest of the Shamrocks shot a combined 10-for-40. Crye had seven boards and Matt Koppinger had eight. Koppinger finished with eight, tied for second on the team.

Devar Jamerson led the Rams with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Cota made three of his five long-range shots and finished with 13 points and six rebounds, second most in both categories for Antelope.

"I've had some disappointing losses in my life, and this is up there," Neumann said. "We haven't lost to Antelope in a long time. I don't want it to sound like sour grapes because they did play well and got the win."

Yuma Catholic's lead in the first half never got bigger than two, but Antelope led 20-14 before YC scored the last six of the half. The Shamrocks' biggest lead came at four in the third quarter.

The teams meet again on Friday at Yuma Catholic, though the Shamrocks play again today against Parker. The loss was the sixth in eight games for Yuma Catholic, who entered the night 10 spots out of the playoffs in the AIA power rankings.

"We have to get this thing turned around," Neumann said. "We haven't played well since Christmas. Now we have to win (tonight), we have to win Friday, and then we have Scottsdale Christian, who's ranked No. 1, coming in next Friday. It's no day at the beach."