Legacy scores 101 points to win school’s first playoff game

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 | 9:20 p.m.

Legacy High’s Zach Lane scored 25 points and Cardon Harris added 24 points Wednesday to lead the host Longhorns to a 101-82 victory against Durango in the Sunset Regional quarterfinals for the school’s first playoff win.

Legacy, which is in its sixth year of existence, reached the playoffs for the first time last year in falling to Bishop Gorman in the quarterfinals. This year, they took the next step.

“There is definitely a good feeling around campus right now,’ Legacy coach Jack Tarango said. “Getting in last year was nice, but this year we had higher expectations.”

Legacy (20-7) led by 13 points at halftime before extending its advantage to 31 points in the third quarter. Lane had 12 points in the outburst and Harris posted 10 to help the Longhorns punch their ticket to Thursday’s semifinals. They play Gorman at 4:40 p.m. at Desert Oasis.

“It’s a good reward, but we expected to be here,” Tarango said. “We knew going in we had a good team.”

Durango trimmed its deficit to 16 points in the fourth quarter, but Legacy — the No. 2 seed from the Northwest Division — sealed the game at the free throw line. It made 16-of-26 attempts in the fourth.

Facing Gorman, which is nationally respected and the consensus favorite to win the state tournament, will be no easy task. But Legacy is up to the challenge.

“We’ll take our chance at beating them and see what happens,” Tarango said.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-266R2 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.