Walker Smith is an Arizona State Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to Cover Cesar Chavez High School for AZPreps365.com

LAVEEN--- There was no ending more fitting than Cesar Chavez being called for a charge to solidify its 55-51 defeat to the Corona Del Sol Aztecs Thursday night at home.

Without one player on the roster with previous varsity experience, the Champions saw eight charges called against them and turned the ball over 14 times in their first regular-season game. “There were a lot of tough calls out there,” sophomore Adonis Lafleur said. “We tried our hardest. There were a lot of travels and turnovers we gotta clean up.”

Charges weren’t the only fouls called as the free-throw line was extremely popular for both teams. The Aztecs and Champions shot a combined 41 free throws, 22 of which came in the fourth quarter.

Corona Del Sol capitalized early on the Champions' mistakes. The Aztecs went up 9-0 on three straight triples in the first 4:08 of the contest. The Champions did not score until senior guard Jalani Asher broke the seal with a free throw.

The Aztecs let it fly from behind the arc the entire game, making eight threes on their way to victory. Corona Del Sol saw most of its scoring come from senior guard Quinn Thorne, who had a game-high 24 points with five three-pointers.

Cesar Chavez continued to fight, however, as it went on a 9-2 run in the last two minutes of the first quarter to tie the game at 14 on a buzzer-beater by Lafleur. Lafleur finished the game with 12 points.

Champion's head coach Joe Esposito talking to his team in between the first and second quarter. (Walker Smith/AZPreps365)“We started executing a little bit better,” Lafleur said. “In the past games we’ve been turning the ball over more and we improved that today. When we come back we’ll be better.”

The two schools battled for the rest of the game with neither team leading by more than five points until the Aztecs pulled away with Thorne’s fifth three of the ballgame to put Corona Del Sol up 49-42 with 3:40 left.

Champion head coach Joe Esposito saw promise in his squad, as they didn’t let the Aztecs stretch their lead to above nine points and took the lead twice in the second and third quarters.

“We are trying to play better, trying to defend better and stay in front of people,” Esposito said. “We gotta box out and play defense. We don’t have a single player that has varsity experience, so it’s about getting better every game.”

Cesar Chavez (0-1 following a 2-2 preseason) has five days to rest and recuperate before it travels to Mesa on Tuesday to take on the Jackrabbits.