Men’s Thunderbirds slip by Central Arizona
Jonathon Smith
The Mesa men’s basketball team pulled out a tough win over Central Arizona on November 21st , 59-52.
A sluggish start led to a five point deficit at half time. The intensity was there, but the shooting was cold.
Coach Sam Ballard said after the game, “We didn’t get off to a sharp start. I’m not big on excuses, but fatigue might have played a part. We had just come off a long road trip up to Utah and were a bit slow in the first half. Central was really physical and gave us problems on offense, but as poorly as we started, to be down only five at half was a good indication that we could fight back and win the game.”
Solid defense from both sides kept this a low scoring game. For the first time all year Mesa was held to under 60 points, but Mesa forced 16 turnovers and blocked six shots to make up for the lack of offense.
The tournovers led to a number of quick buckets that helped the Thunderbirds grab the win.
Stephen Rodgers led the offense with 26 points, going 9 of 15 from the field.
Foul trouble kept him out of the game more than the T-bird’s would have liked though. In the second half, Rodgers was forced to sit for a lengthy stetch with his fourth foul.
Said Coach Ballard, “Stephen Rodgers got into fould trouble and had to sit in the second half. When he came out we were up 9, but during that stretch Central Arizona made a big run and took the lead by 2. I knew we needed a spurt on offense, and Rodgers provided that as soon as he came back in.”
Rodgers offensive surge brought the T-birds back ahead, where they would remain for the rest of the game.
David Henderson had good court awareness throughout the game and provided four assists on just one turnover.
Deonte Roberts scored 8 points and got 2 steals in just 19 minutes of play.
The T-birds were 40% from the field, and held Central Arizona to only 33% shooting.
In the second half the Thunderbirds were able to get to the line a lot off, driving hard and drawing fouls. Their 15-22 shooting at the line in the second half was a big reason the Thunderbirds were able to pull off the victory.
The T-birds hope to build off the emotional win and continue to play with a high level of intensity as they prepare to play Chandler-Gilbert next week.
