Silverado edges Basic, advances to Sunrise quarters

Edward Hauth

Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 | 9:49 p.m.

The Sunrise Regional basketball playoffs are set. Add Silverado High to your brackets.

The Skyhawks clinched the No. 4 seed from the Southeast Division with a 61-57 victory over Basic in the play-in game Monday at Coronado.

“I just really like the fact that we were able to execute our game plan, which was to play strong defense tonight,” Silverado coach Martin Ferriter said. “At the start, we did that really well. I thought that was the difference.”

The teams were tied for fourth place with identical 6-8 league records at the end of the regular season to force the extra game. Silverado advances to Tuesday’s quarterfinals, where it plays at Canyon Springs, last year’s state runner-up.

After Silverado surrendered a 14-point second half deficit to Liberty on Thursday in a game that could have earned it a playoff spot, the Skyhawks withstood a tough second half comeback by the Wolves to secure the postseason berth.

Silverado led 41-34 early in the fourth quarter, but Basic made things interesting down the stretch.

Basic answered back with an 8-2 scoring run in which senior guard Vince Carducci hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cut the deficit down to a point, 43-42.

“I knew that we were going to have to weather the storm in the second half,” Ferriter said. “I knew they would come out hard. Obviously if you lost you are done.”

With the momentum starting to shift in the direction of Basic, the Skyhawks immediately answered Basic’s scoring run with a 9-0 scoring run of their own, led by Alex Paula, who hit a baseline 3-pointer and a floater during that stretch.

Paula was tied for the team lead in points with 15. Paula was joined by junior David Ware who scored 11 of his 15 in the second half, including nine of Silverado’s 13 points in the third quarter.

“I feel like we have worked hard all year to get to this point,” Ware said. “It gives us confidence playing Canyon Springs, the runner-up from last year. We got confidence that we can beat them now. We can be the Cinderella at their place.”

Basic refused to give up as the Wolves cut the Skyhawks' lead all the way down to two points at 59-57 with three seconds remaining on a DeVonte Boyd driving layup.

That was as close as Basic would get though, as Johnson sank two free throws with a second to play to give Silverado the 61-57 winning margin. Justin Johnson was the third Skyhawk to finish in double figures as he scored 10 points, including seven in the second half.

In addition to the wild ending to the game, there was also a wild ending to the third quarter.

Basic High’s Jaylen Rose hit a 3-pointer with five seconds left in the quarter to trim the Silverado lead to 36-34. But on the ensuing possession, Silverado’s Johnson rushed past midcourt and sank a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Skyhawks a five-point advantage entering the final eight minutes.

“In our pregame, we talked if he (Johnson) got a good look in that situation, he’s the one I want putting it up,” Ferriter said. “He got a great look. It looked to me like it was an NBA 3-pointer. It was all net.”

It’s those kind of fortunate plays that will be crucial if Silverado hopes to upset Canyon Springs. Canyon Springs, the Northeast Division champs, have only lost once to a local opponent in the past two years — by three points Feb. 7 in overtime against Valley.

Canyon Springs (24-2) has an explosive high scoring offense led by seniors Michael Thompson, Marquan Webster, Donald Anderson, Trey Evans, and Jared Brandon.

Look for Silverado to try to limit Canyon Springs to a half-court set if the Skyhawks hope to pull off the opening round upset.

“The game plan is to turn it into what this was the first half,” Ferriter said. “We’re not going to beat Canyon Springs 98-96 or 95-93. If we beat Canyon Springs, it will have to be 61-57 like it was tonight.”