Bishop Gormans Ryder Elisaldez, left, and Jaxon Richardson (5) celebrate after Bishop Gorman beat Coronado, 67-65, in the Big City Showdown basketball tournament at Cox Pavilion at UNLV Saturday, Jan 21, 2023. Bishop Gorman beat Coronado 67-65.
Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023 | 7:46 a.m.
The Bishop Gorman basketball team held a two-point lead with 0.4 seconds remaining Saturday night against Coronado in the Big City Showdown at UNLV.
Coronado had two free throws for a chance to send the game into overtime. Those free throws missed and Gorman prevailed, 67-65.
Gorman’s narrow victory in a back-and-forth game is likely a preview of things to come with the high school season winding down to its final four weeks. Gorman, the perennial state power, seems to be evenly matched with Coronado, Durango and defending state champion Liberty.
That was witnessed earlier in the multigame Big City Showdown, where Durango erased a 12-point deficit against Liberty in a 76-69 win.
“I have said that the whole time: At the 5A level, Liberty, Durango, Coronado, Gorman, they all can beat each other on any given night,” Gorman coach Grant Rice said.
Gorman scored the winning points on a beautifully-executed play.
Junior Ryder Elisaldez drove to the basket with about eight seconds remaining, throwing a lob pass to freshman Jaxon Richardson who had already started elevating toward the basket. Richardson caught the ball and dunked home the deciding points.
Richardson and other Gorman reserves were critical in the win with many starters battling foul trouble or injury, including Jace Richardson — Jaxon’s brother — hobbled with an ankle injury. Quentin Rhymes, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, made the most of the opportunity with a team-best 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
“He has been doing really good things this year,” Rice said of Rhymes. “He played (junior varsity) last year for us. His ceiling is very high. Q is a big-time Division I player and people are starting to see that. We know it, it was only a matter of time until he showed it.”
Coronado led by seven points after the first quarter, but Gorman stormed back with a pair of 3-pointers from Eli Bradley and a four-point play from John Mobley Jr. for a three-point halftime lead to set the table for an evenly matched second half.
Coronado’s Sebastian Mack was the best player on the court with a game-high 25 points and Josiah Cunningham added 19, but Gorman held on at the end.
“It was an even game with Coronado-Gorman. It could have went either way,” Rice said
In Durango’s win, Taj Degourville stole the show with 24 points and Durango used a 14-0 scoring outburst in the second half to pull away and improve to 6-0 in Class 5A league games. Tylen Riley had 18 points for Durango, who avenged a tournament loss in December to Liberty.
“We just played well in the second half and I didn’t think we played well in the first half,” Durango coach Chad Beeten said. “Liberty will tell you the same thing. They played well in the first half, but not in the second. When you have two good teams out there that is what typically happens.”
Dedan Thomas Jr. tallied a game-high 30 points for Liberty, who on Wednesday face host Gorman in a rematch of last year’s title game.
