Sameer Malla is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon High School for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX – The No. 18 Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks endured a furious comeback in the fourth quarter by the No. 13 North Canyon Rattlers to pull off the surprise win, 55-51, at The Snake Pit.

Nighthawk coach Jon Kimberlin had a wrinkle up his sleeve in this Conference 5A play-in game. Prior to Friday night’s matchup, he said that “we're just gonna play straight man-to-man defense” against North Canyon, a straightforward defensive philosophy that was used in all 17 games to date.

After holding a slim 12-8 lead entering the second quarter, Kimberlin called timeout. He noticed something different about North Canyon's offense.

“[The Rattlers’ players] were coming downhill on us from getting top and to the rim very easily,” Kimberlin said. “We thought, okay, we'll put some guys back there and make it so they can't get to the rim so easily.”

Ironwood Ridge junior center Noah Williams agreed. “We noticed they were getting inside a lot, so we wanted to shut that down with our zones,” Williams said. “We got more help. And I think we just communicated, talked and worked together through it.”

Kimberlin enforced a change from man-to-man to a 2-3 rotating zone defense that worked. North Canyon turned the ball over 13 times, shot 34% from the field and only 3-19 from beyond the arc. The zone-breaking threes were just not falling for North Canyon.

“We just didn't find our rhythm on offense,” North Canyon coach Michael O’Guinn said. “We didn't put the ball in the basket and finish plays like the way we finished all year.”

 

“I told you so!” a jubilant Kimberlin said, emphatically pleased with the team’s defensive conversion after that early first half timeout.

 

Ironwood Ridge never trailed in this wire-to-wire win, despite some last-minute drama.

North Canyon was down by ten points, 44-34 to start the fourth quarter, after a layup by Ironwood Ridge senior forward Cole Anderson, who finished with a game-high 22 points.

North Canyon employed a full-court press all game that did its most damage on the ensuing Ironwood Ridge possessions. The press and smothering pressure resulted in ten missed shots and four turnovers over the final seven minutes. After a steal and a game-tying layup by North Canyon junior King Turner off the full-court press, the game was tied at 51-all with under a minute left.

The tallest player on either team, 6’8” Ironwood Ridge center Noah Williams, then took center stage. After a series of post-up moves, he got the layup to fall, and received contact to result in an and-one. He completed the three-point play to put Ironwood Ridge up 54-51 with 27.8 seconds left in the game.

Unfortunately for North Canyon, that is when the comeback ended. A traveling violation and a desperation air-ball three at the buzzer thereafter, the game was over.

In just a blink of an eye, the season was over for North Canyon. The best record in school history (15-4) gone, without a sniff of the postseason. O’Guinn just sat on the bleachers for ten minutes immediately following the loss, quiet, head down and despondent of what could have been for his team.

“My kids played hard,” O’Guinn said. “We played hard all year, we played all the way through zero and nothing different about today. There's some calls out there that my kids got lost their cool over them. They didn't blink, you know, even flinch. We just we stayed where we were the whole year.”

“This is a special group, man,” O’Guinn continued. “It's been a privilege to be able to coach these 13 players. And they challenged me. I challenged them, and I think we tried to get each other's best. Every time we got together. It’s been special and they've changed the outlook on the program.”

Kimberlin praised O’Guinn and appreciated the hard-fought battle following the win. “We were hoping for an exciting competitive game, and we got one and I'll have a whole lot of respect for coach O’Guinn and his program,” Kimberlin said. “They did a great job. We just were fortunate to come out on the better end tonight.”

The Nighthawks (10-8) will await their opponent for the 5A conference tournament that starts on Feb. 16. Meanwhile, the Rattlers (15-4) have their playoff aspirations dashed with this play-in game home loss.