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Corona remains in race for Central Region basketball title

By Brian Gomez

Despite figuring that his team had been virtually eliminated from the Central Region title hunt this past week, Corona del Sol High School boys varsity basketball head coach Sam Duane Jr. vowed that the race was far from over.

Ironically, he was right.

Upon returning home after Corona’s 59-49 setback against Mountain Pointe, Duane learned that lowly Yuma High had upset Marcos de Niza for its first region win of the season.

Yuma’s improbable victory not only opened the door for Corona to remain in contention for the region championship, but it also gave the Aztecs an opportunity to gain better positioning for the upcoming Central Region Tournament.

“There’s still so much basketball left,” said Duane, whose team stands in fourth place, one game behind Marcos, Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista. “By no means are we down ... we’ll keep fighting.”

With two region games remaining, Corona (15-7, 3-3 Central Region) stands an outside chance of winning the region championship, although would need lots of help from other teams.

If the Aztecs beat Marcos on Feb. 6 and Desert Vista in the Feb. 12 season finale, they would finish ahead of both those teams, as long as Marcos loses to Desert Vista next week. Corona already has beaten Desert Vista this season.

Getting past Mountain Pointe is the tricky part, since the Pride swept the Aztecs in the season series. Corona needs Mountain Pointe to drop its last two games against Yuma and Marcos.

“The league is so wide open,” Duane said. “We match up with everybody. We’re all pretty close.”

The region champion receives an automatic berth in the region tournament title game and a guaranteed spot in the expanded state playoffs. Finishing second is almost as sweet, though, because that team would play Yuma in the opening round of the region tournament.

The top three teams from the region tournament advance to state, meaning the losers in the first-round games won’t move on unless they’re awarded at-large berths.

Positioned eighth in the latest power points ratings, Corona likely would qualify for an at-large selection, assuming that the elite teams, such as Mesa Mountain View, Gilbert Highland and Mesa High, aren’t knocked off in their region tournaments.

“I’m not worried about that,” Duane said. “We’ve just got to keep getting better.”

Buoyed by increased production from sophomore forward Clayton Bates, the Aztecs haven’t dropped consecutive games all season. Bates has scored in double figures the last two games to complement seniors Dan Winterbottom (13.7 points per game), Craig Borengasser (12.4 points) and T.J. Benson (11.7 points).

Seniors Devin Ruddy and Trumaine Gammage have seen more playing time, causing senior Josh Spence and junior Alex Wentis to assume reserve roles in a rotation that Duane rarely stretches beyond eight players.

“Our lineup will change from game to game now, and we’ll just go with matchups,” Duane said. “We tell our guys every single day that you never know when you’re going to come in. They have to get ready, and every game is different.”

Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@wranglernews.com.

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