Criminals hold off King rally this time for GVR tourney title

 Kofa coach Danilo Montiali called his team overconfident late in the fourth - and that was with his Kings losing by 11.

Fresh off a win last week where they erased an 11-point deficit in the final four minutes against the Criminals to capture the regular season 5A Gila Valley Region title, the Kings couldn't repeat the feat in the region tournament championship game against the Criminals in a 61-56 loss Friday at The House on the AWC campus.

 "I kept saying we're not going to get that type of achievement we had last time we played them every time," Montiali said. "Sometimes we have to take care of business from the beginning. My guys were way too overconfident thinking they can pull that type of effort anytime they want and win the game. That proved to us today that's not how it's going to happen."

 The Criminals took the season series 3-2 against their rivals. Both teams had already locked up playoff berths, making the game about pride more than anything else.

 "We could play 10 times, and it would probably be 5-5," Yuma High coach Louie Pisano said. "We're so evenly matched, and it's a competitive game, it brings out the best in both kids."

 The Kings trailed 60-49 with 2:13 left when they scored on a 3-pointer by Tyler Turner. The Criminals turned the ball over on their next three possessions - but still managed to run the clock down, something they couldn't do in the first meeting.

 Kofa got the lead down to 60-56 and had the ball with 20 seconds left, but Simon Corea missed a 3 and Ricardo Quintero grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and made the front end of a 1-and-1 with 12.4 left to secure the win.

 "We took care of the ball a little bit better," Pisano said. "We made a few bad passes, but we had enough of a cushion to save us this time. I feel happy for the boys and feel very fortunate."

 Carlos Wallett led four Criminals in double figures with 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds to go with two steals and two blocks.

 "We really didn't want to let it slip away again like it did last time," said Wallett, who made all eight of his free-throw attempts. "We just wanted to get the win today. We wanted to show we're ready to go into state and show them what we got."

 The game was tied six times and had nine lead changes through the 5:18 mark in the third, when a 3-pointer by Quintero - who finished with 10 points - in the middle of a 9-0 run gave the Criminals the lead for good. Kofa eventually got the lead down to two, but Yuma High used another 9-0 spurt midway through the fourth to open its 11-point lead.

 "It's a good win to get back at them and win the season against them," Wallett said. "We got one game over them now, so that feels good. And it feels good to win the region title."

 Steven Rojano and Mitchell Harmon each had 13 for the Criminals, while Eric Rivas - in foul trouble most of the game - had four steals, three in the first quarter.

 After scoring 26 against the Criminals in the regular-season finale, Kevin Folsom had a team-leading 14 for the Kings to go with seven rebounds. Alex Caceres had a team-high eight rebounds and three steals, while Turner finished with 12.

 Notes: The teams combined for 34 total fouls, including 21 in the first half. There were three technical fouls in the game. ... Rivas picked up his fourth foul a minute into the third quarter and didn't play most of the quarter. ... Corea had two blocks for the Kings. ... Yuma High shot 12-for-18 in the second half. After missing four of their first six free throws, the Criminals made 15 of their last 17. ... Kofa's 22 turnovers led to 16 Yuma points, including seven off five turnovers in the fourth. Yuma High's 19 turnovers resulted in 12 Kofa points. ... Kofa outrebounded Yuma 31-24.