Foothill’s Hurtado bedevils former Eldorado teammates
Marcus Hurtado once hoped to contribute to Eldorado's basketball success.
On Friday night, the Foothill senior prevented it.
Hurtado, who transferred from Eldorado to Foothill before his junior season, scored 23 points -- including 11 in a key 17-2 first-quarter run -- as the Falcons beat his former team 83-69 in the Sunrise Region championship game at Green Valley.
Foothill (23-8) will make its first trip to state to play either Reno or Douglas on Thursday in Reno. Eldorado finished 23-9.
"He had a little extra incentive tonight," Foothill coach Kevin Soares said of Hurtado.
Hurtado looked as though he had been shot out of a cannon, scoring eight straight points after Eldorado had taken a 4-0 lead.
His third 3-pointer of the first quarter gave the Falcons a 13-6 edge. By the time Earl Jones ended the Falcons' run, the lead was 17-6.
"You always want to get off to a good start, especially in the playoffs," said Hurtado, who had 13 points in the first quarter. "With that early lead, we were able to play from ahead the whole game."
The Sundevils never were closer than eight points the rest of the way.
"The buckets weren't falling, and things weren't going our way," Eldorado coach Michael Uzan said. "We lost our focus a little bit and fell right into their game plan."
Still, Eldorado was within 61-52 on Curtis Malone's tip-in with 4:38 to play.
Consecutive baskets by Gage Huff and Hurtado stretched the lead to 65-52, and the Falcons finished strong by making 11 of 12 free throws.
Jones added 18 points for Foothill. Ben Green had a solid game in the post with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
"I'm relentless," Green said. "I don't give up."
Evan Roquemore chipped in with 14 points.
"It feels great," Hurtado said. "I never thought we'd do it."
Malone paced the Sundevils with 23 points. Michael Elliott scored 14 and Marcus Moreland 10 for Eldorado.
"I'm proud of our kids," Uzan said. "If these kids learned nothing else from me, I hope they learned what hard work is."
