By Don Ketchum

Avondale Agua Fria boys basketball coach Matt O’Meara knows there are going to be days when his starting five will play like the young players they are and others when they play like a more mature group.

He saw both sides in one game on Tuesday night (Jan. 25) at Agua Fria.

The Owls trailed by four points with 5:12 to go in the game but outscored Glendale Apollo 16-4 the rest of the way and produced a 61-53 Class 4A Division I non-region victory.

Agua Fria climbed to 14-6, Apollo fell to 14-7.

“We are a young team,’’ said O’Meara, in his third season as head coach.

“We start two sophomores (Isaiah Lopez and Aaron Hall) and the youngest junior on the face of the planet (Michael Barry). He just turned 16. We try to teach them to not get too down if they are behind because the other team is going to have a few runs during the game and we are going to have a few. We had ours at the right time.’’

Apollo brothers/guards Hery and Alfredo Dimas combined to hit six three-pointers in the second half. Alfredo’s two three-pointers helped give Apollo a 49-45 lead.

Then Michael Barry, the junior of whom O’Meara spoke, drilled a three-pointer to bring the Owls within a point, and a three-point play (drive and basket plus a foul shot) by Lopez put Agua Fria up for good.

Lopez scored 20 points, Barry 11 and senior Jon Makkar had 17, using his leaping ability to score inside, grab rebounds and play strong defense.

Defense is what enabled Agua Fria to stay close when its offense struggled.

“We played better defense later in the game,’’ O’Meara said. “We limited them to one shot for something like three or four straight possessions.’’

Hery Dimas led Apollo with 17, including five three-pointers, and Jmy Holloway scored 16.