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All good things must come to end.
And that was the case for the Superior boys’ basketball team last weekend after a 56 – 42 to eventual State Champion San Carlos in the semifinals of the 2016 Division V State Championship last Friday in Prescott Valley.
But the Panthers magical run through the state tournament did not end before a third-straight buzzer-beating win in the quarterfinals last Thursday.
Sophomore Marcos Bueno took his turn at being the hero against No. 7-seed Red Mesa, first hitting two free-throws to send the game into overtime and eventually drilling the game-winning shot with less than a second left in the extra period.
Bueno’s late game heroics in the 46 – 44 victory proved once again that the Panthers truly were the cardiac kids this postseason. The super sophomore scored a game-high 23 points, accounting for more than 50 percent of the Panthers’ scoring output. He also finished with seven rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Jalon Murray grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds in the quarterfinal win.
Despite the premature ending – at least to Panthers’ players, coaches, and fans – to the season, it was the Panthers’ best in recent seasons.
They won 20 games, their most in at least 12 seasons. They completed their first winning season in 10 years, the last coming in the 2005-06 season, when they won 19 games. Their 10 section wins were tied for the second-most in Section IV, which had four teams reach the state tournament.
And, of course, they had three-straight state tournament games that included buzzer-beating shots, two of them to win games and the other to send the game to overtime. It’s hard to imagine that happening previously in a postseason environment.
Congratulations and thanks for the great run, Panthers!
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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