Sweetwater Wins, 61-53, in Battle for First Place

Arms folded and eyes staring straight ahead, Southwest High School Coach Steve Selland could only dream of a rematch.

“I wish we could play them again,” Selland said Wednesday night after Southwest lost to visiting Sweetwater, 61-53, in what may be remembered as the game of the season in the Metro Conference.

Sweetwater Coach David Ybarra stopped short of wishing for a rematch, but said the teams could meet again and again, with an eventual victor unlikely to emerge.

“We could play 10 more times,” Ybarra said, “and we’d probably split five and five.”

Both teams had much at stake. For fifth-ranked Sweetwater, it was the chance to redeem itself from its only loss to Southwest, 61-57, on Jan. 6 at Sweetwater. It would also give the Red Devils a chance to take over first place in the conference standings. Sweetwater (22-2 overall, 11-1 in conference) is now a half-game ahead of third-ranked Southwest (18-6, 10-1).

Sweetwater denied Southwest the victory with a third-quarter 20-11 run that was highlighted by Cortez Rice’s seven points and Ruben Hernandez’s six points.

Add a basket by John Gilbert and the Red Devils had a 37-27 lead with 3:38 remaining in the quarter.

“Cortez Rice was the difference for them tonight,” Selland said. “He’d take those outside shots. My outside shooters just didn’t do it.” Rice finished with 19 points.

Southwest came back to within six at the end of the third quarter on a controversial goaltending call that made Sweetwater’s lead, 42-36.

In the fourth quarter, Southwest tied the score, 45-45, with 5:41 remaining, when Sweetwater called a timeout. The Red Devils came back with a 9-0 run that left Southwest stunned.

Will Tate, who led the Raiders with a game-high 30 points, said Southwest just wasn’t playing like a team.

“We just couldn’t get it together today,” Tate said. “Our strength is good chemistry, and today we weren’t in sync.”

Sweetwater held Adalberto Silva, the Raiders’ leading scorer, to 12 points.

Said Ybarra: “They had a heck of a defensive game. Anytime they went inside, we double-teamed them. They played disciplined.”

Sweetwater, which made only 11 for 31 shots in the first half, trailed by 13-10 after the first period and 25-22 by the end of the second quarter, when Southwest employed a spread defense to hold on to its slim lead.

“I told them to keep their composure,” Ybarra said. “I told them that the shots they were taking were good, they were just missing on a couple.”

Carlos Campbell had 16 points for Sweetwater.