Rock Point clinches No. 2 seed in super regional tournament

BURNSIDE, Ariz.

In its regular season finale, the Rock Point boys basketball team clinched the 1A North’s No. 2 seed for the upcoming super regional tournament.

The Cougars pulled away from St. Michael with a 61-46 win over the Cardinals at the Ganado Pavilion Monday night.

“We’ve been playing some great basketball,” Rock Point coach Colin Begay said. “The boys were eager to play and we hope to carry this momentum over to the super regional tournament.”

The 1A North-Canyon Super Regional Tournament got underway on Tuesday night with St. Michael, Grand Canyon and Ash Fork advancing.

The 11-team tournament resumes today with quarterfinal pairings. The semifinals and finals will take place at Rehoboth Christian High School on Saturday.

The Cougars are hoping to get by Seligman, the Canyon’s No. 3 seed, in today’s quarterfinals as the two team met earlier this season with Rock Point winning 47-45.

“They have a great squad, and we have to be ready,” the Rock Point coach said.

Should the Cougars advance, Rock Point will take on the winner between Canyon members El Capitan and Ash Fork at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

El Capitan won the 1A Canyon Region with a perfect 10-0 record, which earned the Eagles a No. 4 ranking in the Arizona Interscholastic Association 1A statewide polls.

“They beat Williams and (Flagstaff) Basis in some close games,” Begay said.

Rock Point finished as the reserve champion in the 1A North behind Basis as the Flagstaff private school won 55-44 and 66-62 over the Cougars.

“The first game was a tough loss and we had to let that one go,” Begay said. “We played them again this past Saturday and we played a great game.”

The difference, Begay said, came down to clutch shots from the 3-point line.

“In the first half, we pressured them and contested those 3s,” he said. “But they found a way to hit them in the second half.”

Despite coming up short to Basis, the Cougars didn’t let that loss linger in its matchup with St. Michael.

After leading 29-25 at the break, Rock Point scored the first 11 points in the second half with junior post Zyon Tsosie and senior guard Coltyn Littleben combining for nine points.

“It was amazing to see them come out after halftime wanting to be more aggressive and a lot stronger,” Begay said of his club.

The Cardinals didn’t score until the 5:45 mark as they coughed up the ball seven times while missing three close range shots to open the third quarter.

“Nothing against Rock Point, but I think the refs set the tone in this game,” St. Michael coach Joshua Thompson said. “All I saw was grab, grab, grab and it was tough on my guys to finish shots.”

Trailing as much as 15 points, the Cardinals got within 49-39 at the start of the fourth but that was as close as they would get.

Kyril Yazzie led the Cardinals with 14 points while Mattias Yazzie added 10.

For Rock Point, Littleben led all scorers with 18 points while freshman Ryer James chipped in 16 and Tsosie had 14. Senior point guard To’aheedliinii Bahozhoni added a dozen.

As the paper went to print, Rock Point was holding down the No. 14 slot in the latest AIA polls with the top 16 making the state tournament.

“The last time we made state was in 2020,” Begay said. “The boys have been working hard to get into the playoffs, and they’re gonna continue to keep pushing.”

In Tuesday’s ranking, St. Michael was holding down the No. 19 spot. To make the 16-team tournament field, the Cardinals needs to win the super regional tournament to get in.

“It’s gonna be tough, but it’s doable,” Thompson said.

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