2025-26 Boys Basketball

One for the ages: Tucson High falls short in packed gym in school’s biggest game in 57 years

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A crowd of at least 1,100 was on hand at Tucson High’s gym to watch the Badgers play in the 6A semifinal game (Javier Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

Adding to the biggest game in Tucson High School’s history since the 1969 Class AAA championship over Tempe was the appearance of Arizona’s Koa Peat, Brayden Burries, Bryce James, Tobe Awaka, Ivan Kharchenkov and Jaden Bradley to watch the Badgers play Peat’s alma mater Gilbert Perry in the 6A semifinal game on Wednesday night.

Tucson’s gym had an overflow crowd and it was a raucous scene when the Badgers went from a 14-point deficit with 6:08 remaining to only two points with 27 seconds left.

The seventh-seeded Pumas prevailed 69-64 over the No. 6 Badgers in a memorable night for Southern Arizona high school basketball.

“We’re the big dogs (at 6A), so we made it,” Tucson coach Eric Langford, a star with the Badgers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “We’re not done, of course, but it feels good to get out of the first round and put on for the city.”

Not since Brian Peabody coached Salpointe to the 1998-99 5A state championship game has a Southern Arizona team made it this far in the highest classification of the state.

It was the first state semifinal appearance for Tucson since the Badgers won the title in 1969 with Tony Morales as coach and three of the best to play in Southern Arizona — Delano Price, Hogie Simmons and Kenny Ball — as leaders of the team along with 6-foot-10 center Elizaro “Chuco” Miranda.

Those were the glory days of Southern Arizona basketball.

Coaching legends Don Harris of Buena, Ed Nymeyer of Flowing Wells and Norm Patton of Marana led their teams to championship games that season.

Harris’ team beat Nymeyer’s for the Class AA title and Patton’s Tigers capped a 25-0 year with the Class A championship.

“It didn’t really kick in until last night; I was like, ‘We’re really doing something. We’re really here,'” said Pima College-bound Malaki Cunningham-Hiadzi, Tucson’s forward who finished with a team-high 21 points. “The goal was to be at that Coliseum (Veterans Memorial Coliseum) on Saturday (for the 6A championship game), but God had different plans. It is what it is.”

The mood of the Badgers was one of resolve after a nearly half-hour discussion with Langford in the locker room following the loss. No tears were shed when they emerged from the locker room. Only smiles filled their faces.

“No one really believed we’d get this far,” senior guard Patrick Flores said, referencing Tucson’s 0-4 start to the season. “We did. We knew everyone was going to be doubting us and overlooking us, so we just kept putting in the work.

“That’s where it got us.”

The four losses to start the season were against Phoenix-area teams Mountain Pointe, Highland, Basha and Mesa, which strengthened the senior-heavy Badgers that went on to win 10 of the next 11 games. Tucson was 20-4 after the slow start, finishing the season 20-8.

Perry is 13-16 heading into its championship game Saturday against Peoria Liberty. The Pumas will try to achieve their fifth straight title, first without Peat, who led them to three consecutive Open Division championships after a 6A title in 2021-22.

The Pumas are 7-3 after losing eight straight games. They have adjusted to new coachJustin Collard and transfers LJ Diamond (Desert Vista) and Viktor Babic (ALA-Gilbert North), both of whom became eligible at mid-season.

Collard replaced Sam Duane Jr., who retired after achieving 494 wins and eight state titles. Duane is the son of legendary Sam Duane Sr., whose Tempe team lost to Tucson in the 1969 championship.

Collard was appreciative of the support of Peat and his Wildcat teammates, most of whom sat two rows behind Perry’s bench.

“They’re one of the best teams in the world,” Collard said. “They won the Big 12, which is unbelievable, one of the best leagues in the world of basketball. So it only helped us. It probably made us one point better, which is always good.”

If the support translated into at least one point for Perry, it was very valuable.

The game turned after Tucson took a 22-13 lead six minutes into the game. At that point, the Badgers were 5 of 6 from 3-point range, including two from that range apiece for Flores and Tavion Okougbo.

Tucson was 4 of 19 from beyond the arc the rest of the game.

The end of the second quarter and the third quarter were damaging to the Badgers, who were 4 of 23 (17.4%) from the field from the last two minutes of the first half to the end of the third quarter.

The cold spell allowed Perry to turn a 35-31 deficit into a 62-48 advantage before Flores banked in a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter.

Diamond scored seven of his 18 points in the second quarter. Babic, who had four points at halftime, had seven of his 20 points in the third quarter. He finished strong in the fourth quarter with two 3-pointers and a 3-of-4 performance from the free-throw line.

Flores, who had 17 points, ignited Tucson with his 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter. The shot highlighted a 16-4 run that cut Perry’s lead to 66-64 with 27 seconds left.

“Tucson is a great team; they’re one of the best coached teams,” Collard said. “They run good stuff. Their players are unselfish. They’re fundamental. I mean, the way they switch up defenses …. So I’m proud of our guys to be able to win against that team.”

It appeared Cunningham-Hiadzi was in position to make a steal after Knight made two free throws to cut the lead to 66-64.

But Cunningham-Hiadzi’s near-theft by midcourt, that caused Bradley and the standing-room-only crowd to stand, was called a foul because it was ruled he reached over Babic’s back.

“I thought it was pretty clean,” Cunningham-Hiadzi said of the foul. “The ref called a foul. I was ready to go and get a dunk. I feel if the ref doesn’t blow the whistle and I get the dunk, that would have tied the game up.

“That’s crazy momentum. I don’t think they beat us.”

He mentioned of the atmosphere and playing in front of some of Arizona’s players: “It’s pretty cool. We’ve seen them around and told them, ‘Come to the game.’ It was cool to see them come. Just to the crowd and the city, I want to say, ‘Thank you.’ It was really amazing. I never heard it get that loud in this gym.”

After the foul called on Cunningham-Hiadzi, Babic made one of the two free throws to give Perry a 67-64 lead.

Knight missed a 3-pointer but Tucson was able to grab the rebound and call a timeout with 6.6 seconds left.

Flores’ 3-point attempt was off the mark. Babic rebounded the ball and was fouled with 2.3 seconds left. He made both free throws to seal the victory.

Despite what could have been a disheartening finish, Langford stood proudly with his “4 the City – Tucson High Badgers” shirt that was made to honor the Final Four finish.

“This is probably the best atmosphere (he has seen at Tucson),” said Langford, in his sixth year as head coach after playing there from 1987 to 1991. “Tonight was different. I knew where ticket sales were. To walk in today and hear that ticket sales were at 870, and to hear almost a half-hour later, they’re almost at a thousand … it’s a different atmosphere.”

He pointed to his team, which had eight seniors be part of their last game in the gym, and said, “Those boys earned it.”

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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