The good news for the Patagonia Lobos boys basketball team is that they’ve figured out what it takes to be successful.
The tricky part will be carrying over and building upon those lessons as they take on the meat of their schedule in January.
The Lobos entered the holiday break on a high note, putting together perhaps their best performance of the season in a 49-31 victory at Valley Union on Dec. 19. The Lobos were without two key contributors—Noah Gallardo and Kannon Shore—due to illness, but senior Diego Carranza returned to the lineup after missing multiple games with illness and scored 16 points to lead the Lobos. Senior Sebastian Padilla added eight points for Patagonia, and junior Gus Varela scored seven.
“We really increased our defensive intensity, applied more ball pressure,” coach Nate Porter said. “We showed more patience on offense, which we hadn’t been doing. And it really helps to have Diego Carranza back and fully healthy.”
Junior center Gavin Arbizo also returned to the court for the first time since suffering a knee injury in the preseason. He teamed up with junior Jaxon Yslava to provide some needed muscle inside. “Gavin adds some physicality and interior defense,” Porter said. “Having Jaxon and Gavin in the middle helped us control the boards.”
The victory came after back-to-back losses to St. David and Hayden and a 2-2 record in the Coach Edgar Brown Holiday Basketball Tournament in Williams. The tournament games are not factored into AIA season records and rankings, so Patagonia officially entered the holiday break with a 4-2 mark after beating Valley Union.
“It was a game we needed to win,” Porter said. “We’re right where I thought we’d be going into the break. It was a really, really good way to go into the break and build some confidence going into the second half.”
Porter said the Williams tournament was a positive experience for the Lobos, even with Carranza and Arbizo unavailable. It identified some areas in need of adjustment—handling defensive pressure, executing the offense more efficiently—that have since been put into practice.
Varela has emerged as a secondary scoring threat to complement Carranza, but the Lobos will need to continue relying on their overall depth to achieve their goal of qualifying for the state championship.
“Every game we have to be able to figure out as coaches which players are meeting our measurements that particular day: defensive activity, offensive execution, not having unforced turnovers,” Porter said. “We’re never going to be a high-scoring team, so we’re looking for guys who bring the defensive effort and defensive intensity.”
Porter praised senior guard Johnny Fields for stepping into a leadership role. “He’s really grown into that role,” he said. “I wasn’t sure he was a player who had that in him, but he’s really stepped up. I’ve been really pleased to see that.”
The Lobos return to action Thursday, Jan. 9, at San Simon. Their next home game is Friday, Jan. 17 vs. Baboquivari. They have 12 games remaining in the regular season, six of those at home, and Porter expects they’ll need seven or eight more wins to reach the state tournament.
“It’s probably going to take 11 or 12 wins to qualify for state, so we need to put together some victories,” he said.
The Patagonia girls team will be looking to get healthy and gain some needed experience when it returns from the break. A young roster (only one senior), a lack of depth, and an unfortunate run of injuries have contributed to a rough start for the Lobos, who fell to 1-5 on the season after a 48-19 loss to Valley Union to close out their December schedule.