Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Prep Basketball:

Foothill rolls past Las Vegas into the Sunrise Regional semifinals

Expanded coverage

Although Foothill is the Southeast League champion, Falcons' senior guard Kadeem Minor does not feel his team has garnered enough respect.

Hoping to prove that Foothill is a serious contender for regional and state titles, Minor dropped 17 points, tying a team-high, on the Las Vegas Wildcats as the Falcons advanced to the Sunrise Regional semifinals with a 58-44 victory on Wednesday night.

Minor shot 5-of-7 from the floor and knocked down 6-of-9 free throws. His fellow guard Evan Roquemore also notched 17 points.

"We haven't been in any of the power rankings – nobody is talking about us," Minor said. "I mean that's an insult. To not have your school in there after we worked so hard last year to get to State… Yes we have a chip on our shoulder, a very big one, and I think that gives us an edge."

Foothill certainly started the game with that intense attitude as it jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first two minutes.

The Wildcats eventually found a rhythm and took a 19-17 lead with 3:30 remaining in the second quarter, but the Falcons closed out the half on a 8-0 run to head into the locker room on top 25-19.

"It was sloppy at times tonight, but we pulled it together," Minor said. "Once you start to think about how this could be your last game, you'll dig down deep and give whatever you can to win."

Foothill seemed poised to run away with the game after mounting a 38-27 lead in the final minute of the third quarter. But two costly turnovers by the Falcons led to five unanswered points for the Wildcats in the last 30 seconds of that quarter to bring Las Vegas within six.

Las Vegas, however, failed to overcome that deficit due in large part to Foothill's stifling defense.

The Wildcats' leading scorer, Tony Eackles Jr., averaged 19 points per game entering into the playoffs. Foothill held Eackles Jr. to 12 points, five of which came from the charity stripe.

Foothill also successfully shut down any semblance of a perimeter game as Las Vegas hit just one-of-16 3-pointers.

Although the Falcons struggled offensively, knocking down 18-of-47 (38.3 percent) shots, the Wildcats were even worse with a 33 percent shooting mark from the floor (17-of-51).

"I thought we played decent defense," Foothill coach Kevin Soares said. "Offensively, I think we just made some poor decisions. We weren't doing the things we worked on in practice and that was frustrating."

Las Vegas senior Ahmaad Franklin led the Wildcats with 20 points, although he only scored eight in the second half.

Foothill will now head to Liberty to face the Patriots in what was supposed to be a neutral site for the semifinals on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The Patriots pulled off a 59-47 upset over Canyon Springs Wednesday night.

"We have to do a lot of things that we didn't do tonight," Minor said. "We have to box out and keep the ball alive and meet the pass – just the little things. That's all it takes is the little things."

Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or [email protected].

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