Mariah Cox is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Centennial High School for AZPreps365.com

In a close game, the Centennial High School Coyotes beat the Central High School Bobcats 54-51 on Thursday night. 

Senior Emery Young led Centennial with 27 points. The Coyotes improved to 17-8 overall, 14-4 in Arizona and 9-3 in league play. 

Centennial started: senior Zander Kamai, senior Victor Fabuluje, freshman Johnny Rios III, junior Gage Galbreath and Young.

Centennial led 14-9 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Centennial continued playing hard, the crowd chanting "defense!" The Coyotes led 29-20 at halftime and 39-34 at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Coyotes led 50-46 with 42.2 seconds on the clock. Central’s Sabih Almasri made a 3-pointer to bring the Bobcats to within 50-49.

Centennial's Young was then fouled and made both free free throws. After Central scored to pull within 52-51, Centennial's Kamai scored to account for the final score. 

“Well, you know, it is always nerve-racking, but we got veteran kids so I knew they were gonna be alright but we missed too many free throws,”  Centennial coach David Grace said.

Thursday night's win against Central meant a lot to Centennial’s placement for playoffs. “Because now we are gonna get a lot of points and seeding will mean an awful lot for us," Grace said. "We had a tough week with the three teams we played. They were ahead of us in points so [this win] meant an awful lot.” 

Phil Kohm, who was keeping Centennial's stats, added: “I think we played very well tonight except for the free throws.”