3A BOYS BASKETBALL: Desert Pines turns to ‘D’ in semifinal win over Chaparral

Desert Pines boys basketball coach Mike Uzan only needed a few words to explain Chaparral’s first-quarter offense in the Class 3A Southern Region semifinals on Thursday afternoon.

“They were on fire,” he said after a deep exhale.

Fortunately for Uzan, the Jaguars’ defense served as the extinguisher in the second half and the offense went on a 17-3 third-quarter run behind Trevon Abdullah-Booker to pull away for a 74-59 win over the top-seeded Cowboys at Sunrise Mountain.

“It was a storm,” said Uzan, whose team allowed five 3-pointers and fell behind 22-13 after the first quarter. “We just had to weather the storm. Our guys are poised. We said, ‘If they’re going to win the game, they’re going to have to win like that all game long.’”

With its stingy man-to-man defense, Desert Pines limited Chaparral to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half and shut down Cowboys leading scorer Samuel Porras, who had all 13 of his points in the first half.

“Something we pride ourselves on is our defense,” Uzan said. “Since (Dec. 20), no one has scored more than 60 (points) on us. They really want to defend. That’s our secret. That’s our ammo.”

Desert Pines’ offense, meanwhile, regrouped in the second quarter and outscored the Cowboys 21-10 to take a 34-32 lead at halftime. Derrick Coleman scored 13 of his 16 points in the quarter for the Jaguars (17-11), who will face Cheyenne (18-5) in the region final at 6 p.m. Saturday at Sunrise Mountain.

The Desert Shields won both of the previous meetings this season by a combined five points.

On Thursday, Abdullah-Booker was the spark plug out of the locker room. The 6-foot-5-inch standout, who finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and three steals, scored eight of the team’s first 10 points of the third quarter, and the Jaguars grabbed their biggest lead at 51-35 with 2:05 left.

“He’s a senior. He knows what to do,” Uzan said. “He’s been there before. He’s played varsity for four years. He’s made (three) state appearances — two in the championship. We’ve won a regional title. Some of these kids have resumes.”

Capri Uzan led Desert Pines with 18 points. The Air Force commit added 11 rebounds and four assists, and hit 9 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter to ice the game.

Chaparral’s John Brooks had 17 points, and teammate Jonathan Tendale scored 16 for the Cowboys (21-7).

Cheyenne 74, Virgin Valley 46 — At Sunrise Mountain, Dewayne Alexander scored a game-high 16 points and provided the day’s highlight play as the Desert Shields cruised to an easy win over the Bulldogs in the other semifinal.

The 6-3 Alexander caught an alley-oop lob off the backboard from teammate D’Andre Houston and slammed it home in the third quarter to extend Cheyenne’s halftime lead to 45-21 with 4:20 left in the period and erase all doubts of a comeback for Virgin Valley.

“We’ve been working all season to try and play a complete game and tonight was as close as we’ve come,” Cheyenne coach Teral Fair said. “From beginning to the end. Our philosophy all season long is to get better every time out. I think we’re playing maybe our best basketball this time of the season.”

Ke’Shawn Hall added 15 points, and Houston scored 13 for Cheyenne, which led 19-9 after the first quarter and 34-17 at halftime. The Desert Shields received scoring contributions from 11 players.

“The beauty of our team is that we don’t have one guy,” Fair said. “That’s what our team is all about. We’ve got several guys who can have big nights.”

Devin Cox led Virgin Valley with 13 points.

Jayden Perkins and Reid Jensen each scored 10 points for the Bulldogs (20-9).