By Matt Hickman/Sierra Vista Herald
COOLIDGE — In the two regular season meetings, the Cochise men’s basketball team was able to hang with Central Arizona most of the way before falling late.
Thursday night in the semifinals of the NJCAA Region I Championship Tournament, the Vaqueros took an early lead and continued to build it in an 81-59 win that ended the Apaches’ season.
It was Central’s third straight win over Cochise and fifth in the last six meetings. Last season, Central Arizona upset Cochise when the Apaches were the No. 1 seed for the tournament.
“We thought we had a good plan defensively to slow them down,” Cochise head coach Jerry Carrillo said. “But we couldn’t do anything offensively… We did a better job getting back defensively, but we couldn’t score, and that got to us.”
Demeco Blue was the only Cochise scorer in double figures with 16 points.
Central Arizona moves on to Saturday’s region championship, where for the second straight year, the Vaqueros will meet Arizona Western, which defeated Mesa on Thursday.
The Apaches closed the season with a 25-6 record and Carrillo finished his 18th season one win shy of 400 for his tenure.
“Obviously we want to get back to the championship — the bar’s high for us,” Carrillo said. “A lot of teams would be happy with a 25-6 season, but we’re disappointed.”