T-birds dominate in first playoff win in years but fall short of Nat’l tourney

Aaron Dunton

Six days before Mesa’s first home playoff game in eight years, head coach John Mulhern was asked what college he longed to play in the first round. His words rang loud and clear.

“We want Cochise College. They knocked us out of the playoffs for three straight years now. We want to get them back for that.”

Coach Mulhern and the Mesa basketball team got their wish the next day as Cochise College clinched the fourth seed over Central Arizona College.

After the March 4 opening playoff game, Mesa showed exactly why they wanted to play Cochise as they cruised to a dominating 79-48 victory.

The win put Mesa only two games away from winning the ACCAC division and moving on to Nationals.

It was clear that Mesa wanted to avenge the loss to Cochise the week before as the team came out firing from the gates.

It took only 41 seconds before Mesa had a 7-0 lead.

Freshman David Jackson contributed in a major way to the early 7-0 lead. He made a three pointer, stole the ball, and shot a successful jumper.

It wasn’t long before Mesa was winning 10-0 and cruising along with confidence.

Its safe to say no signs of weakness showed as Mesa never gave Cochise a fighting chance to make a comeback.

In fact, the Apaches of Cochise never got closer than six points for the rest of the game and found themselves losing by double digits throughout.

Mesa’s defense showed great signs as well, holding the Apaches to only 32 percent shooting in the game.

Mesa shot a stifling 48 percent, including 50 percent in the second half.

With over a 20 point lead late in the second half, Mesa sealed the door with an astounding alley-oop dunk from guard Rodney Brown to high-flying forward Blair Nelson.
The dunk left the fans on their feet and the Cochise bench in silence as the game was left far out of reach for the Apaches.

Leading the way for the T-birds was freshman forward Kennard Shaw. He had a double-double, snatching 10 rebounds and scoring 16 points on seven of eight shooting.

He was without a doubt the team’s MVP on this night.

Freshman phenom David Jackson also proved lethal as he contributed in a big way.
He was a remarkable 70 percent from the field, scoring 17 points.

He grabbed 3 rebounds in the game as well.

As always, Jessie Childs came through as well.

Plagued with foul trouble throughout the entire first half, Childs had to do most of his work during the second half. He didn’t disappoint.

He scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half and improved his stellar free throw percentage by shooting eight for nine from the charity stripe.

He also had a team high eight assists in the victory.

Sophomore John Pena was another top performer on the night, collecting 15 points and five rebounds throughout the night.

Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds they were unable to overcome the Gila Monsters of Eastern Arizona as they suffered a heartbreaking 70-68 loss in the ACCAC semifinals.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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