Boulder Creek puts stranglehold on Northwest Region
Marc Buckhout ~ Managing Editor ~ 2/10/2010

Grit, depth and lock-down defense held the fort until a torrid third quarter of shooting propelled the Boulder Creek Jaguars to a 71-60 win in Glendale Friday night.
In all but locking up their second straight Northwest Region title the team from Anthem overcame a physical and desperate Mountain Ridge team to improve to 21-2 on the season and remain perfect in region play, now sporting an 11-0 mark.
“Our goal is to win the region and secure a top four seed for the state tournament,” Boulder Creek coach Randy Walker said. “We haven’t done either of those yet, but this was definitely a huge win.”
While the Jaguars can legitimately make the case for either senior Alex Dykhuizen, last year’s region player of the year, who is second on the team in scoring (15.6 points per game) and the leader in both rebounding (10.5) and shot blocking (2.3) or fellow senior Ryan Crane, who is the team’s top scorer at 17.3 points per contest, as the region’s player of the year, the group’s role players also were significant factors in a game that was still in doubt at halftime.
Winners of 11 of their last 13 game since a region opening loss to Boulder Creek, the Mountain Lions (13-9, 9-2), looked to the contest as a must-win if they were to keep their state tournament hopes alive. A win over the Jaguars, who beat them 54-51 in Anthem on Dec. 11, would have pulled them into a tie at 10-1 in region play with three games remaining. With a region title comes an automatic state bid. Without a region title Mountain Ridge’s chances of rising into the top 16 in the power ratings were next to none.
Getting up in the passing lanes an energetic Mountain Lions defense had Boulder Creek looking out of sorts in the first half, as the Jaguars committed 11 turnovers, with a series of errant passes.
“We were a little sluggish,” Dykhuizen said. “We wanted to focus on slowing things down on offense and just making the easy play instead of forcing things.”
While Dykhuizen was responsible for getting his team out of the gate well, scoring eight of the team’s 14 first quarter points, it was freshman Josh Braun who provided a boost offensively in the second quarter to help Boulder Creek weather an offensive malaise.
“He really gave us some energy,” said senior guard Ryan Crane of his younger teammate. “Maybe the first game of the season he might have looked like a freshman, but he hasn’t had that attitude since. He’s doing a great job off the bench for us.”
In his first game back from a leg injury Braun quelled the Mountain Ridge crowd that was revved up following a pair of fast break layups by the Mountain Lions setup by Boulder Creek turnovers.
His first bucket of the second quarter was a driving finish, in which he drew a foul, then completed the three point play. Moments later he canned a three pointer from just to the right of the top of the key that hushed the crowd and any Mountain Ridge momentum.
Despite the turnovers and only two points from Crane in the first half the Jaguars held a 27-24 lead at halftime.
“Our defense has been a rock for us,” Walker said. “We shot poorly, had too many turnovers and still had a lead. I couldn’t help feel that we’d play better on offense in the second half. I think we just needed to calm down. The kids wanted to perform so badly, light it up right away, that we were a little bit too fired up.”
While the Mountain Lions hung tough for 16 minutes they would soon get run out of their own gym as the Boulder Creek bomb squad would light up the scoreboard in the third quarter.
A Jaguars team that has scored 60 or more points in 19 of their 23 games this season, and is averaging a tick under 69 points per game, blitzed the host Mountain Lions with an 18-4 run during the first five plus minutes of the third quarter, turning a hotly contested battle into a rout.
After making only 1 –of – 7 attempts from the field in the first half Crane rectified things on the offensive end.
“When we broke the huddle before the second half Ryan told me he would fix it and I just told him I wasn’t worried,” Walker said. “He’s too good of a shooter to struggle for very long.”
While he missed his first attempt of the quarter Crane found his touch shortly thereafter scoring 10 of the team’s first 18 second half points including a rare four-point play as the Mountain Lions went from within three to start the second half to staring up at a 17-point deficit which effectively drew to a close their postseason aspirations.
“I was a little short on my shots in the first half, maybe they were a little flat too so I just tried to use my legs a little better,” said Crane, who scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the decisive third quarter, connecting on 4-of-6 shots, all from beyond the arc.
Overall the Jaguars hit six three pointers in the quarter. Though junior Joe Simpson didn’t dial long distance himself, Walker praised his forward for playing a role in the offensive explosion.
“He scored the first basket of the half by just outrunning the defense and getting a layup,” Walker said. “It doesn’t sound like much, but by running the floor hard he makes the defense react. They have to respond to him and that draws the defense in off the perimeter to protect the basket.”
Although his numbers were pedestrian, 4 points and two rebounds, Walker said his forward’s effectiveness isn’t necessarily measurable in his stat line.
Often drawing the opposing team’s top post player, in order to avoid risking foul trouble to Dykhuizen whose value offensively is paramount to Boulder Creek’s success, Simpson is asked to put in a blue-collar effort on a nightly basis.
On Friday that role included an attempt to take a charge four minutes into the game. Along with being charged for his second foul, on a blocking call, injury was added to insult as the 6-foot-4 forward earned a bruised tailbone for his efforts.
“He was in a lot of pain and really showed a lot by gutting it out and playing hard the rest of the game,” Walker said.
Beyond Crane’s 20 points, Dykhuizen scored 18 and Braun added 12 points. The story though was the Jaguars defense, which yielded only 35 points on 33 percent shooting through the game’s first three quarters.
“Defense wins championship,” Crane said. “We think we can go all the way and it’s going to be the way we defend that will make the difference. We’ve improved during the season. We communicate well and help each other.”
With three games remaining in the regular season the Jaguars simply need one win or one Mountain Ridge loss to clinch the region championship. They had their first chance at earning another banner for their gym Tuesday against Deer Valley (10-10, 5-5), a team they’ve defeated twice this season. On Friday they play their regular season home finale against Willow Canyon (7-13, 5-5) before traveling to Surprise on Tuesday to close the regular season at Valley Vista (9-12, 4-6).
In other action involving North Valley teams the Cactus Shadows boys basketball team improved to 11-13 on the season Friday with a 70-59 win over Apache Junction. The win continued the team’s pattern of following a loss with a win as the Falcons have neither a winning or losing streak since dropping three straight in early January.
The Falcons close the regular season at home against Notre Dame (11-14) Wednesday in a non-region contest. As of press time Tuesday the Falcons sat at No. 13 in the 4A Div-I power ratings, meaning they would face No. 4 Shadow Mountain, a team that beat the Falcons 85-76 on Dec. 3 in the first round of the 4A Div-I state tournament
GIRLS
Cactus Shadows
After nine wins in a row to open 2010 the Cactus Shadows Falcons (19-6, 8-0) saw their win streak come to a close in Flagstaff. In a make-up game that was rescheduled due to snow in Flagstaff the Falcons offense was frigid in a 60-39 loss to the Eagles on Feb. 3.
Clearly though the team from Cave Creek had their sites set on taking care of business in the Desert Sky Region. On Friday they laid claim to another region title with a 50-39 win over Apache Junction (13-8, 6-2).
The Falcons close the regular season at Notre Dame (14-10) Wednesday. Cactus Shadows, which has reached the state semifinals each of the last four seasons, sit No. 2 in the 4A Div-I power ratings heading into the regular season finale.
While they are well behind No. 1 Shadow Mountain the Falcons are in a tight bunch of teams that include No. 3 Apollo, No. 4 Raymond S. Kellis and No. 5 Cienega.
The top four teams host the maximum of two home playoff games in the state tournament.
Boulder Creek
The Jaguars (8-11, 5-5) sit at No. 16 in the 5A Div-II power ratings heading into the stretch run of the season. With three games left Boulder Creek has a .11 of a point advantage over No. 17 Lake Havasu.
Boulder Creek closes the regular season beginning Tuesday when they played at Deer Valley (7-13, 3-7) (results unavailable at press time). On Friday they will be in Surprise to take on Willow Canyon (3-19, 0-11) before returning home Tuesday to end the regular season against Valley Vista (16-5, 10-1).
To find out how all the local teams finish the regular season go to www.aia365.com. High school varsity basketball teams start at 7 p.m.
The 4A Div-I state tournament starts on Tuesday with the higher seed hosting. The quarterfinals are set for Feb. 19.