Broncos Advance to Section V Semis

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The third-seeded Poston Butte boys’ basketball team had to overcome three scoring droughts of at least three minutes each, in addition to nearly blowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead, in a 54 – 47 victory against No. 6-seed Payson on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the Division III Section V Tournament.

The win advanced the Broncos, who are No. 23 in the most recent AIA rankings, to the tournament semifinals, where they’ll face No. 2-seed – and tournament host – Valley Christian on Friday night. The Trojans are ranked No. 6 in the AIA rankings.

“We played really well in spurts,” Poston Butte head coach Noel Nafziger said after the game about his team’s performance. “We’d get up 11 or 12 [points] and let them get back into (the game). We have to be a little more resilient.”

Poston Butte's Tyson Berringer (34) flushes the dunk over two Payson defenders.

Poston Butte’s Tyson Berringer (34) flushes the dunk over two Payson defenders.

The Broncos started slow versus the Longhorns, trailing 4 – 0 at the midway point of the opening quarter before going on a 14 – 0 run and forcing Payson to call a timeout at the two minute mark.

Broncos’ sophomore point guard Kevin Johnson drilled two of his team’s four three-pointers during the 14-point run. Seniors Preston Anderson and Qujuan Steward each had one.

Kevin Johnson (3) hits one of two three-pointers in the first quarter on Wednesday night.

Kevin Johnson (3) hits one of two three-pointers in the first quarter on Wednesday night.

“I don’t remember us taking a bad (three-point shot),” Nafziger said. “I thought we took good (shots) for the most part.”

Poston Butte extended its lead to 12 points during the second quarter and took a 31 – 22 lead to the locker room at halftime.

The third quarter was almost a carbon copy of the first for the Broncos, who went scoreless for the first three minutes of the second half. But just as they did earlier, the Broncos got hot and opened an 11-point lead after a three-pointer by Zach Merrill near the end of the quarter put them up 42 – 31 entering the fourth.

Payson scored 10 unanswered points during the first four-and-a-half minutes of the last quarter. The Broncos’ first points came on two free throws by Preston Anderson, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Longhorns from tying the game at 44 – 44 with 3:27 remaining.

“We just have to move on offense,” Anderson answered when asked what caused the long stretches without points. “I caught myself standing a lot, so we have to be moving without the ball and cutting to the basket. We have to be passing; we’re dribbling with our heads down. We have to find the open man.”

The Broncos’ head coach had his own explanation.

“I think we made bad decisions,” Nafziger said. “We started playing fast for some reason. We threw about four jump passes and those haven’t worked since the game was invented.”

Despite blowing an 11-point lead, the Broncos had the Longhorns right where they wanted them after another long scoreless stint.

Anderson, who scored a game-high 18 points, scored the next five points to give the Broncos a five-point lead they would not relinquish.

“We just fell apart,” Anderson said of the fourth-quarter collapse. “We didn’t run much in practice and we [might have been] a little out of shape. We just fell apart mentally and we need to be a lot better versus Valley Christian.”

Payson pulled within 49 – 47 after hitting from beyond the three-point arc with a minute left, but that’s as close as it would get with the Broncos closing out the win down the stretch from the free-throw line.

For the Broncos, Steward scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds. Tyson Berringer, a junior, pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with seven points. Johnson finished with nine points – all on three-pointers – and a game-high four steals. He also dished out three assists, tying senior Josh Zaker for the team-high.

Qujuan Steward (23) floats through the air on this jump shot. Steward finished with 15 points in the Broncos' win.

Qujuan Steward (23) floats through the air on this jump shot. 

The Broncos have their work cut out for them playing in front of the Trojans’ home fans on Friday night.

“We have to play with urgency because we need a win to have a chance at [making the state tournament],” Nafziger said. “It’s going to be a test. We had them early and probably played our worst game [of the season]. We’ll look at the film, see what we need to do better, and come out and play better. That’s all there is to it.

Next up: Section V Semifinals – Feb. 12 vs. Valley Christian at Valley Christian. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:15 p.m.

Andy Luberda (1149 Posts)

Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.


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