By Don Ketchum

Phoenix Central’s boys basketball team has played Laveen Cesar Chavez many times during the summer, but a little more will be at stake when they meet on Tuesday night (Dec. 21).

The two will battle for the championship of the Phoenix Union High School District 2010 Boys Basketball Holiday Classic. Tipoff is 7:30 at Phoenix North High.

Central escaped with a 77-75 victory over host North in one semifinal game on Monday night (Dec. 20) and Cesar Chavez went the extra mile with a 75-71 overtime triumph over neighboring Laveen Betty H. Fairfax.

One thing is certain – Central and Cesar Chavez will be pushing the ball up and down the floor and then some. This tournament might feature the quickest field of any holiday tournament, top to bottom.

Doing his part for Central on Monday night was point guard DaLan Stafford, who scored 33 points. Shooting guard Robert Selmon added 17 and forward Mitchell Burnett chipped in with 14.

“Our point guard created some stuff out there, kept getting by them (North) with that quick first step,’’ said Central coach Darren Bustos.

The coach also was happy with the way his team rebounded, despite the presence of Alan Williams, North’s 6-foot-7 senior post man. Williams also had a lot of putbacks, and scored a game-high 43 points.

Central had an 11-point lead early in the third quarter, but couldn’t pull away as Williams, playing with a bandage on his arm due to a cut sustained in the first half, scored 10 points to help North pull even at 58 after three quarters.

He scored North’s first 11 points of the fourth as the game remained tied. But Central turned up the defense and on offense got a three-point basket from Sam Levy and a three-point play from Selmon to go up 75-69. North pulled to within 76-75 on Buckets by Mike Scroggins and Williams.

Stafford hit one of two free throws with 13 seconds left. North got the ball and called timeout with 8.8 seconds left, but could not work the ball close enough for a decent shot.

Bustos felt fortunate to slip away with this one, and knows his team will encounter similar games when the Class 5A Metro Region hits full stride in the new year.

“The region is going to be tough and we have at least five teams capable of taking it,’’ Bustos said. “I think we’re going to get five teams in the state tournament.’’

Betty H. Fairfax stormed back to send the early semifinal into overtime by outscoring Cesar Chavez 18-7 over the final six minutes of regulation.

J.D. Reagan came up big for Cesar Chavez in overtime by scoring seven points, including a pair of early three-pointers to help set the tone. Until that point, he had converted only a pair of free throws in the first half.

Betty H. Fairfax’s Lejon Johnson did his best to help keep his team in it by scoring seven of the team’s nine points, but it wasn’t enough as Anthony Romero iced the game with four free throws in the final 19 seconds of overtime.

Guard Jason Williams led Cesar Chavez with 20 points and forward L.J. Harmon had 19. Johnson led all scorers with 31 points.