The Cochise College Apaches bounced back from their brief two game skid to pick up two key ACCAC wins this week keeping them tied for first with Arizona Western.
 Bruce Whetten / Douglas Dispatch Cochise College’s Marcus Williams goes up for two of his 23 points in the Apaches 100-76 win over Yavapai Jan. 6. Three nights later Williams pumped in a game high 37 leading Cochise to a 63-61 win over Mesa. Cochise has two big home games this week hosting Central Arizona College tonight and Arizona Western on Saturday. |
Cochise responded on Wednesday with a 100-76 win over Yavapai and followed that up with a 63-61 win over Mesa on Saturday.
Cochise, 14-2, 8-0 in league play, has two big ACCAC games this week hosting Central Arizona College on Wednesday and Arizona Western on Saturday.
In the win over Yavapai the Apaches were in control from the start jumping out to a 32-9 lead only to see Yavapai come back and cut the lead to 53-41 at the half.
The Apaches increased their lead in the second half cruising to another ACCAC win.
“That was great energy to start the game,” Cochise head coach Jerry Carrillo said afterwards. “I think that showed good integrity on our guys’ part, after two losses like that to jump on them like that.”
Yavapai’s Breen Weeks led all scorers with a game high 33 points.
Xavier Blount led Cochise with 24 points while Marcus Williams followed with 23. Nyandigisi Moikobu followed with 15 and Brandon MacLellan contributed 12.
On Saturday against Mesa the Thunderbirds dictated the tempo but Williams 37 points sparked Cochise to a 63-61 win.
“It was a good win on the road against a quality opponent,” Carrillo said. “Mesa’s as well-coached as any team in our league and they defend with integrity.”
Cochise held a 62-56 lead with a minute to play, but consecutive turnovers allowed Mesa to cut it to 62-61. The Thunderbirds fouled to send Cochise redshirt freshman Demetrius Thornton to the line with five seconds to play.
Thornton made one of two and Mesa’s desperation heave for the win was off the mark.
“The reason we were able to win was that we were able to get the tempo up at times,” Carrillo said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t speed the game up, but we’re going to have to win games like that if we’re going to win a championship.”
The Apaches shot just 34 percent from the field and Williams, with his 37, was the only Cochise player in double figures.
Verner and Delgado each had six to follow.
Cochise led 31-30 at the half and outscored the T-Birds 32-31 the second half.
Lady Apaches drop two
The Cochise College Lady Apaches dropped two games last week losing 73-47 to Mesa and 69-60 to Yavapai on Wednesday.
Against Mesa Sylwia Janas led the Lady Apaches in scoring with 21 points. Mieke Elkington followed with 12.
Mesa led 33-21 at the half and outscored Cochise 40-26 the second half.
Against Yavapai Cochise trailed 31-25 at the half but came out with a 13-4 run to start the second half taking a 38-35 lead.
Turnovers helped Yavapai regain the lead.
Vianca Villegas led Cochise in scoring with 20 points. Brittney Brown followed with 13.
Cochise 5-11 overall, 3-5 in league play hosts Central Arizona College on Wednesday and Arizona Western College on Saturday.
Both games start at 5:30 p.m.
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