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By Richard Bravo
Copper Basin News
The Ray High School boy’s basketball team split games this week posting a win on Wednesday against the Superior Panthers and losing a thriller against the Duncan Wildkats on Saturday.
The Bearcats won the Wednesday contest against Superior, 62-41. The Bearcats were led by shooting guard Quentin Camacho who scored a game high 27 points. Dominic Bravo added 18 points to help the Bearcats cruise to a 21-point victory.
In the second game of the week, the Bearcats traveled to Duncan to take on the Wildkats who have two of the top scoring guards in Division IV, Daniel Corona and Cale Merrel. Head coach Jeff Cude relied on shooting guards Camacho and Bravo to slow the duo down. They both succeeded holding the Wildkats leading scorers to season lows in points.
The game was an exciting one from opening tip-off with both teams trading baskets in the first two periods. The Wildkats had a slim 34-30 lead at the half. The game became more intense in the last two periods as both teams came out of the locker room determined to win. Both teams scored a total of 20 points in the third period with the Wildkats holding on to a 54-50 lead headed into the final period of play.
In the final period of play the Bearcats stayed close with big baskets coming from Camacho and Bravo, but it would be free throws that kept them in the game. With just two minutes to play Joe Rudy Lorona hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 62 a piece. Point guard Eli Cude helped the Bearcats take their first lead of the half when he stole the ball and found Camacho under the basket for an assist. This gave the Bearcats a 64-62 lead with a minute left. After a missed shot and an offensive rebound by the Wildkats Corona was fouled by Bravo sending their best free throw shooter to the line. Corona sunk both shots to tie it up with 12 seconds left on the clock. Point guard Cude then took the inbound pass down the court and was fouled on his way to the basket with just 3 seconds on the clock. With the crowd screaming at the top of their lungs point guard Cude calmly sank both free throws. These free throws seemed to seal the game for the Bearcats, but with 3 seconds remaining Corona took the inbound pass and drove just passed halfway court and threw up a desperation shot. The shot banked off the glass and went in before the buzzer sounded shocking the Bearcats 69-66.
The Bearcats were led by Camacho who had a team high 34 points going 6 for 6 from the line. Bravo added 18 points and Cude chipped in with 10 points.
The Bearcats traveled to Cibecue on Tuesday scores will be updated in next week’s paper.
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