SUNRISE REGION: Foothill rallies, survives playoff opener

Down 11 points entering the fourth quarter wasn’t exactly how Greg Cox envisioned Foothill’s boys basketball team opening the playoffs.

So the junior guard took matters into his own hands.

Cox scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, including three 3-pointers, to help Foothill rally for a 68-66 home win over Valley in a Sunrise Region quarterfinal Tuesday.

“It feels great knowing we can come back for a win like that,” Cox said. “It gets us more hyped coming back to win. It gives us a lot of energy, and we’ll try to keep it for the next game.”

Foothill (21-7), the Southeast League’s No. 2 seed, will host Northeast champion Canyon Springs (25-2) in the semifinals at 4:40 p.m. Thursday at Foothill.

“All the work that this team has put in, it came out tonight,” Foothill coach Kevin Soares said.  “It was a good win for the kids; it shows they can compete with some of the best players in our region.”

Valley (21-6) led by as wide a margin as 43-28 midway through the third quarter, but the Vikings were outscored 27-14 in the fourth period.

Tyler Roberts hit a free throw with 1:25 left to give Foothill a 62-61 lead, but the dagger came when Cox nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner for a 65-61 lead with just over a minute remaining.

Foothill’s Dakota Yamka sank a pair of free throws with 36.3 seconds left to give the Falcons a 67-63 cushion.

Valley’s Christian Kessee was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left and his team down 68-65. But he made only one of the first two shots before the Vikings were called for a lane violation on the third, and the Falcons held on for the win.

“We just kept our heads up and didn’t want to quit,” Cox said. “It couldn’t be our last game.”

Brannon Cresanto paced Foothill with 16 points and four steals. Yamka had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Falcons, and teammate Zach Ginter supplied 10 points and eight rebounds.

“Everybody contributed at some point in time,” Soares said. “Now hopefully we can carry this over into the next game.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to play in front of our fans on our court.”

Kessee scored 19 points for the Vikings, who were 19-for-29 from the foul line.

Valley point guard Johnny Arbelaez had 14 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals. Caleb Carter added 14 points for the Vikings.

Canyon Springs 60, Silverado 39 — At Canyon Springs, Michael Thompson scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half and added five assists to lead the Pioneers (25-2) past the Skyhawks (12-16).

Chris Willis had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Canyon Springs, which trailed 20-19 at the break but outscored the Skyhawks 25-9 in the third quarter.

Jared Brandon added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Donald Anderson supplied 10 points and five assists for the Pioneers.

Bryan Marberry led Silverado with 10 points.

Coronado 69, Las Vegas 63 — At Coronado, Michael Louder had 17 points and 12 rebounds to help the Cougars (22-7) past the Wildcats (13-14).

Austin Nelson supplied 19 points and nine assists for Coronado, which trailed 19-9 after the first quarter.

Adam Schmitt added 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Coronado, which plays Eldorado in the other semifinal at 8 p.m. Thursday at Foothill.

Travon Langston led Las Vegas with 31 points, and teammate Hasaan Henderson scored 12.

Eldorado 74, Green Valley 65 — At Eldorado, Markeith Floyd and Donavin Wright each scored 16 points, and the Sundevils (22-6) held the Gators (13-13) to one fourth-quarter field goal en route to the win.

Curtis Stewart added 14 points, and Julian Jacobs scored 13 for Eldorado, which trailed 21-11 after one quarter and outscored the Gators 18-6 in the final period.

Green Valley’s lone fourth-quarter bucket came with 30 seconds to play.

Earl Thompson paced Green Valley with 19 points. Michael Thornton scored 16, and Austin Tebbs added 13 points for the Gators.