Desert Shields keep playoff hopes alive

The Cheyenne High School boys basketball team got a thrilling 64-59 victory over Somerset Sky Pointe in North Las Vegas, Tuesday, Feb. 2. After a slow start by both teams offensively, the pace picked up in the second quarter, with the Desert Shields leading 27-26 at half.

Cheyenne would extend that one-point lead with a run in the third quarter. CHS freshman Azari Jefferson hit a trey that made it 38-32 Shields, but Somerset answered with a three to cut it to three. 

Junior Phoenix Dalton got an easy layup out of a timeout on a baseline inbounds play to push the Shields’ lead to eight. Then a transition bucket made it a 10-point lead for Cheyenne with two minutes left in the third. 

Free throws were a problem for the Eagles, missing three straight free ones in the third, but their three-point shooting was on point to keep it close.

“Those are some of the best three-point shooters in the game…so that’s why we were throwing two at them,” explained CHS head coach Ron Childress regarding the double-teams he employed in the game. Seniors Emmitt Bell and Ja’Cory Gory have both hit more than a third of their 3-point attempts this season.

Dalton canned a three of his own to make it 53-49 with 6:20 to go. Then he broke the press to get an easy layup for senior Aedyn Keeno to make it 55-49 with 5:20 to play. 

The Eagles’ Carson Newell hit a trey to make it a one-possession game and force a Desert Shields’ timeout with 4:21 left, though. Three more missed free throws by the Eagles kept it a two-point game, however, and CHS junior Simmie Beals hung in the air to hit a jumper in the paint to push the lead to four with 2:30 left. 

Dalton then found Segovia-Gonzalez in the post to make it 61-57 and force an Eagles’ timeout with 1:37 left. Hounding defense cost Somerset precious seconds out of the timeout, but it was a one-possession game with one minute to go.

The Shields had the ball with 26 seconds left up 61-59 and a 20-second shot clock to work with. The Eagles used their foul to give, but Beals stepped on the sideline to give the Eagles hope.

Segovia-Gonzalez then stole the ball and drew a foul with a chance to seal it.  He hit one of two free throws to make it 62-59 with 7.2 seconds left, which was how it ended.

Dalton led the Shields with 15 points, and Beals and Keeno each added 11. Jefferson also finished in double figures with 10, so it was a balanced offensive approach by Cheyenne that got the victory.

With the win, the Desert Shields preserved their playoff hopes and improved to 2-4 in the Mountain 4A. They sit in sixth place with the same league record as Canyon Springs, whom they host for the final regular season game of the year at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4.