Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

A long time coming’: Foothill escapes Canyon Springs to return to region finals

Pioneers’ fourth-quarter rally comes up just short

2016 Las Vegas Sun HS Basketball Media Day

Christopher DeVargas

Foothill High School Boys Basketball, from left, Jace Roquemore, Marvin Coleman and Mauricio Smith participate in the Las Vegas Sun Media day at The South Point, Wed Nov. 16, 2016.

Canyon Springs had three shots in the final 12 seconds to potentially extend its season into the Sunrise regional finals — but none of them were particularly good shots with Foothill defending tough.

And none of them fell. The late defensive stands allowed Foothill to fend off a near-collapse in a game it never trailed to win 70-67.

“We got stops when we had to, got rebounds when we had to,” Foothill coach Kevin Soares said. “That’s how we pulled it out."

The Falcons will now have two chances to clinch a spot in next week’s state tournament at Cox Pavilion. They face Coronado in the regional championship at 6 p.m. Saturday night at Canyon Springs, but even the loser is guaranteed a matchup with the Sunset region runner-up in a play-in game next Tuesday.

It’s the first regional final in five years for Foothill, which is looking to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2008.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Soares said.

The final seven minutes of the semifinals must have felt just as long for Soares. Foothill built a game-high 15-point lead, 60-45, a minute into the fourth quarter when senior center Carl Fischer slammed down a dunk in transition.

But officials whistled him for a technical foul for hanging on the rim, which started a 14-2 run for Canyon Springs over the next three minutes to make the score 62-59. Senior guard Christopher Hawkins, 26 points, and junior guard Kevin Legardy, 24 points, began taking over for the Pioneers.

Foothill struggled on offense as four of its starters fouled out including senior Mauricio Smith, who had a team-high 19 points including converting all three of his three-point attempts.

“I kind of wanted to cry,” Smith said. “I didn’t think I did that much wrong, but when I sit back and look at what I did, I know I messed up.”

Smith fouled out after Foothill had stabilized by hitting free throws — it was 19-for-26 from the line on the night as opposed to Canyon Springs’ 17-for-32 — to go up 68-62. A referee called him for an offensive foul, and then he bounced the ball in frustration to also earn a technical for his infraction.

Soares stuck up for his star, describing the officiating as “terrible.”

“This one was on the referees,” Soares said. “My kids were out there battling, playing as hard as they could but it’s hard, even though we did it, to overcome 11 fouls to 2 at one point of the fourth quarter.”

Canyon Springs had to overcome its own adversity, as Hawkins went down with cramps in the final minutes. Senior forward Elbert Bibbs made two of his three field goals, accounting for four of his eight points, on consecutive possessions with just more than a minute left to cut the score to 68-67.

With all of Canyon Springs’ defensive attention focused on Foothill sophomore Jace Roquemore — who was the lone starter still in the game and had 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists — Soares drew up a play featuring two reserves. Senior guard Jeron Bodin cut to the basket, received a pinpoint pass from sophomore guard Dylan Hushaw and converted a layup that turned out to be the game's final points with around 40 seconds remaining.

The Falcons missed the front end of two one-and-one free throws that could have iced the game but made up for it on the other end. After checking back in, Hawkins took the trio of late three-point looks from the left wing, but none of them were fully open looks.

“We pride ourselves on defense and we work really hard on our defense,” Smith said. “We were a little spotty at times on defense, but we played well overall.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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