SUNSET BOYS: Cimarron dismisses Western

It took Western a week of lawsuits, appeals and hearings to get into the Sunset Region boys basketball tournament.

It took Cimarron-Memorial’s Kevin Olekaibe only a frantic third quarter to knock the Warriors out of the postseason.

Olekaibe scored 19 points in third quarter as the Spartans earned an 86-69 road win over Western in the region quarterfinals on Saturday.

“Kevin, he does not want this to end,” Cimarron coach Steve Boyack said. “He’s had a great year. He steps up when he has to, or all the time. Nineteen in that third quarter was huge for us.”

Western originally missed the postseason after forfeiting four games for using an ineligible player. But Western filed a last-second appeal on the night before the Sunset tournament originally was scheduled to start, and an independent hearing officer restored two of those wins on Friday.

That was enough to put the Warriors into the playoffs, but Olekaibe and company made sure it wouldn’t save their season.

Olekaibe finished with 42 points and five of just about everything else: rebounds, steals, assists and dunks.

“(Olekaibe), he played amazing tonight. He’s a great player,” Western coach Chip Nelson said.

Cimarron (21-9) plays Palo Verde (20-3) at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at Palo Verde. Bishop Gorman (26-2) plays Desert Oasis (16-9) in the other semifinal at 4:40 p.m.

Western scored six points in the final 1:07 of the first half to close to within 38-31. But Cimarron opened the second half with a 15-4 run to take control.

“That was kind of the focus of the halftime was to come out and not let them make a run, becuase they’d taken the momentum away from us,” Boyack said. “We had to regain it quickly, and they responded.”

Ben Dorsey added 16 points for Cimarron, and Leo Bermudez had 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. Bermudez and

Erik Brewer controlled the paint, with Brewer totaling 16 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

Both coaches admitted it was difficult to prepare for basketball this week. The tournament originally was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, and Cimarron was supposed to play Desert Oasis in the first round before Western’s forfeits were overturned.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” Boyack said. “And uncertainty has made it tough. But the kids responded well.”

Nelson said it was difficult to get his players ready to play after they originally were told their season was over.

“The kids were down and obvioulsy upset that they were out, and things just seemed to drag on, and drag on, and drag on with so much uncertainty that it was tough to get them to bounce back,” Nelson said.

“We obviously had a pretty eventful week and a lot of distractions. I know that it’s really no excuse, especially since everybody basically had a lot of distractions.”

Kentrell Washington had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Western.

Desert Oasis 71, Cheyenne 69 — At Cheyenne, Zach Bolenhausen scored on a rebound as time expired to give the Diamondbacks the win over the Desert Shields.

Anthony Lianzo missed a shot with 3 seconds left and Bolenhausen grabbed the rebound over two Cheyenne defenders and hit the game winner in one motion to give Desert Oasis its first basketball playoff victory.

Cameron Mich’l sparked the Diamonbacks in the second half, scoring 26 of his game-high 28 points, including four 3-pointers. Lianzo finished with 20 points.

Jaylen Henry led Cheyenne with 18 points. Chris McCall had 17 points, Victor Bermudez 12 and Brian Organ 10 for the Desert Shields.

Bishop Gorman 90, Arbor View 51 — At Bishop Gorman, Anson Winder scored the first nine points of the game and finished with 33 to lead the Gaels over the Aggies.

Winder drained eight 3-pointers and finished 12-for-17 from the floor. Shabazz Muhammad went 10-for-14 from the field, finishing with 26 points and 10 rebounds for Gorman.

Maiscei Grier had 14 points, and Darington Banks added 12 points to lead Arbor View.

Palo Verde 87, Spring Valley 78 — At Palo Verde, Davion Person had 25 points to lead the Panthers over the Grizzlies.

Moses Morgan added 16 points for Palo Verde.

Corey Clement led Spring Valley with 24 points.