The curse of being the conference champion continued Saturday night as the regular season conference champion Cochise College Apaches lost to second seeded Mesa 72-69 in the Region 1 championship game before a stunned standing room only crowd in Cochise Stronghold.

Bruce Whetten / Douglas Dispatch Cochise College’s Xavier Blount dribbles his way towards the basket in the Region 1 finals Saturday night in Cochise Stronghold. Blount finished the game with 18 points as the Apaches were defeated 72-69.

It was the fourth time in five years the visiting team has won the championship game and the second time Cochise has been victimized on its home court. The Apaches lost in overtime to Arizona Western in 2006 and have now lost four straight championship games.

“We just feel a little bit cursed right now,” Cochise head coach Jerry Carrillo said after the game. “We just can’t get over the hump.”

In two previous meetings this year the Apaches had beaten Mesa by a combined three points, including a 71-70 buzzer beater several weeks ago at Cochise.

On Saturday ACCAC Player of the Year and tournament MVP Stephen Rogers of Mesa scored 19 of his game high 24 points in the second half which included a clutch three pointer and a thunderous dunk which gave his T-birds a 65-58 lead with three minutes left in the game.

After being held to five points on 2-of-6 shooting in the first half, Rogers made 8 of his last 12 shots and five of his last six down the stretch.

 “I’ve always tried to lead this team in any way possible and my teammates did a fantastic job putting me in position to make those plays,” Rogers, said. “David hit me on a nice drive and dish for that dunk.”

Rogers hit a three to start the game but then the Apaches got rolling going on a 10-0 run.

Forcing 12 Mesa turnovers in the first 10 minutes the Apaches increased that lead to31-16 with five minutes left in the first half when Mesa roared back pulling within six, 33-27, at the half.

The T-birds opened the second half with a 5-0 run and Cochise’s 15 point lead had been cut to one making it a brand new game.

Cochise fell behind 50-43 midway through the second half, before mounting a 7-0 run to tie it. When Marcus Williams poked the ball free in the backcourt and Jamiko Verner scored and was fouled a moment later, it marked the first points the Apaches had scored off a turnover in over 16 minutes.

“We came out very nervous and it looked bad for us,” second-year Mesa head coach Sam Ballard said. “But we tweaked our press offense and it worked.”

The T-birds finished with 34 turnovers, but just four in the first 10 minutes of the second half when they completed their comeback.

Tied at 50 Mesa hit back-to-back baskets to go back up four.

A long three-pointer by Williams from the exact spot he beat Mesa at the buzzer the last time the teams met in the regular season trimmed it to 72-69 with 11.4 seconds left.

Williams then came up with a steal on the inbounds play and got it to Xavier Blount whose three-pointer to tie rimmed out and went out of bounds, last touched by Mesa with 2.2 seconds left.

With Cochise out of time outs, Blount popped out to the corner and got the pass from Verner, but his heavily contested 3-pointer hit the side of the backboard as time expired.

“We really played well the first 12 minutes, but it hurt us when Jamiko got those two fouls — that hurt our flow,” Carrillo said. “I think in the back of his mind, he didn’t want to foul, because he knows he needs to be in there.”

Playing in his final game at Cochise Williams led the Apaches in scoring once again finishing with a team high 21 points, Blount followed with 18.

The Thunderbirds now head to the NJCAA national play-in game against the Region 18 champion Tuesday in Salt Lake City.

“When we walked into the gym today we looked up at the region banner and I thought, it’s been a long time since Mesa’s won one of those,” said Rogers, a Mesa native who played at nearby Mountain View High two years ago before going on his LDS mission. “This is a great program and it’s similar to what I experienced in high school.”

“I credit Mesa, Sam does a great job and those kids are an awesome group of guys but they’re not more awesome than our guys,” Carrillo said. “(After the game) I told them to be proud of their body of work. These sophomores have been in two region championship games in two years and have won 50 games in two years. I love these sophomores, I love this team. I just feel a little cursed.”

The Apaches finish the year 26-5.