#19 South Mountain vs. #14 Buena
Playoffs are here! February 8th was the first day of the playoffs, starting with the play-in games. While there were many interesting match-ups, I was very intrigued by this particular game. So I made the drive on out to Tucson,…
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Continue ReadingPlayoffs are here! February 8th was the first day of the playoffs, starting with the play-in games. While there were many interesting match-ups, I was very intrigued by this particular game. So I made the drive on out to Tucson, Arizona to watch South Mountain take on Buena High School.
Buena came into the contest as the higher seed and looked to be the favorites. The Buena Colts finished the season 13-6 and finished 3rd in their region, 5A Southern. Although Buena was looked at as the favorites, I thought South Mountain could give them some trouble. I even went as far as predicting South Mountain to win the game in a previous article.
South Mountain came into the game 13-5 and finished 2nd in their region, 5A Metro. The South Mountain Jaguars are led by their very young and talented backcourt of DeOtis Nunn Jr. (5’11 South Mountain 2022 G) and Isaiah Freeney (5’11 South Mountain 2021 G).
The first half was very slow as both teams struggled to score the ball. Both teams looked very good, demonstrating their elite athleticism and speed. Buena really struggled to put the ball in the basket, missing lay up after lay up. South Mountain shot the ball well but Buena had some really intense defense that managed to keep them in the game going into the half. The teams looked very equally matched in the first half and I expected a very close, low scoring second half to follow.
Halftime Score: 25-15 SM
The second half featured a lot more scoring. Kino Bellinger (5’11 Buena 2019 SG) and Isaiah Freeney went back and forth knocking down some big time threes. No matter what run the Colts went on, Freeney was there to match it and keep them as bay. The entire game was within 10 points but South Mountain eventually pulled away towards the end, winning the game.
Final Score: 55-41 SM