Skyhawks advance past Rams

The Silverado boys basketball team celebrated its first playoff appearance as it had hoped it would Tuesday night -- by beating Rancho High.

The Skyhawks took the lead early in the first quarter and never relinquished it, ousting the Rams from the 4A Sunrise Region Tournament with a 66-58 win on Silverado's home floor.

"It feels great," said Silverado coach Pat Condron. "I think this is the best win this school has ever had."

The Skyhawks (17-9), the second seed from the Southeast Division, relied on their guard play to overcome the athletic Rams (10-10).

Off-guard DeJuan Ashley led the Skyhawks with 23 points -- including nine in the final quarter -- and Lateef Durosinmi added 20 points. Point guard Kevin Short nailed four 3-pointers on his way to 16 points.

"We played as smart as we possibly can play tonight," Condron said. "I was real impressed with the way we played.

"Our game plan was to come and be patient with the ball. We said we would pass the ball 50 times before we get a layup."

The Skyhawks led the Northeast Division's third seed, 51-42, entering into the fourth quarter.

Ashley scored the first seven points for Silverado in the fourth and finished with nine of Silverado's 15 points in the quarter.

"We make teams play defense a lot so they get real tired," Ashley said. "We made them run through a lot of screens and they were slacking up some and we used our speed against them."

Rancho guard Rod Lukes, who was named co-MVP in the Sunrise Region Monday night, led his team with 29 points. The Rams' last lead of the game was 7-6 in the first quarter. Silverado then went on a 16-2 run to end the quarter.

Rancho whittled the lead to 33-30 just before halftime. The Rams used a 15-2 run that started with 4:28 left in the second quarter. Lukes, a recent football signee with Division II's Alcorn State, scored seven in the run, while reserve forward Deshawn Campbell added five of his 13 during the stretch.

The Skyhawks meet Las Vegas High on Friday.

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