Photo by Shannon Gahn
Douglas, AZ — Cochise men’s basketball team snapped their winning streak on Saturday night and after five games of domination, the Apaches lost to Eastern Arizona 81-82.
The team built a seven-point lead with four minutes left to go in the second half. However, from that point on, the Apaches had a difficult time scoring the ball, as the Gila Monsters forced Cochise to turn the ball over, which led to the game-winning lay-up with 54 seconds left to play.
Jawan Stepney, who finished with a team-high of 16 points, went to the free-throw line with 5.1 seconds and missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Emanual Shepherd was able to grab the offensive rebound, off of the miss, but wasn’t able to convert his attempt.
The Apaches got one more chance as the ball went out of bounds, off of the Monsters, with 1.1 seconds left to play.
Cochise inbounded the ball to Arell Hennings and by the time he was able to get his shot off, the buzzer rang, and the Apaches had to suffer their fourth loss of the year.
Arell Hennings finished with a double-double, scoring 14 points and 10 assists. Dallas Polk-Hilliard and Jeff Long both added 10 points in the defeat.
The loss put Cochise back in a tie for first place with Arizona Western and Phoenix College.
The ACCAC game of the week on February 3rd, against Arizona Western, will have big implications on playoff seeding.
Cochise will tip-off with the Matadors at 7:30 p.m. at the Stronghold Gymnasium.