Wade Hull put No. 12 Thatcher up 34-26 with 1:48 left in the third quarter at No. 11 Pusch Ridge, and it looked like a mini upset was in making Wednesday night in 3A South action, but the Lions went on a 13-4 run from there to take a brief 39-38 lead before holding on for a 49-46 victory.
Pusch Ridge improved to 9-3 in ranking games to match the won-loss record for the Eagles. There will be no rematch with nine teams competing in the 3A South including No. 1 Palo Verde (11-1). Pusch Ridge took Palo Verde to the limit in a 54-53 loss on Jan. 16 with the Lions beating Pusch Ridge 69-46 in the 3A championship game last year.
In the game Wednesday night, Thatcher led early, taking a 21-15 lead with 3:12 left in the first half, but the Lions took a 23-21 lead with 6:49 left in the third. Back-to-back three pointers from Hudson Lopeman helped pace the Eagles to the 34-26 lead with 1:48 left.
Pusch Ridge battled back once again and Frankie Lopez put the Lions up 39-39 on a three with 4:41 left in the game. The Lions held a slim 43-42 lead with 1:16 left and then Lopeman hit another long-range bucket to cut the Pusch Ridge lead down to 47-45 with 13.3 seconds left. Santino Almazan made a couple of free throws to give Pusch Ridge a 49-45 lead with 8.3 seconds left but Chad Johnson was fouled with one second left and he made the first free throw to make it 49-46.
The Eagles played the miss on the second free throw almost perfectly but time expired after the ball was tipped out to Lopeman, waiting beyond the arc.
Pusch Ridge will host No. 4 Coolidge (10-2) on Saturday and Thatcher will visit Palo Verde Monday night. Benjamin Lambe led Pusch Ridge with a game-high 19 points, Noah McKinney added 13 and Almazan had nine. Isaac Palmer scored 17 for Thatcher, Lopeman had nine and Johnson added seven.
PUSCH RIDGE 49, THATCHER 46
TH: 15-6-15-10: 46
PR: 13-6-12-18: 49
TH: Isaac Palmer 6 (2) 3-4: 17; Hudson Lopeman 3 (3): 9; Chad Johnson 2 3-6: 7; Bronson Stringfellow 2 (1): 5; Wade Hull 2: 4; Braden Bryce 1: 2; Dylan Riney 1: 2. TOTAL: 17 (6) 6-10: 46.
PR: Benjamin Lambe 7 (1) 4-6: 19; Noah McKinney 6 1-1: 13; Santino Almazan 2 5-6: 9; Frankie Lopez 2 (1): 5; Levi Adcock 1: 2; Christian Munoz 1-2: 1. TOTAL: 18 (2) 11-15: 49.
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