Kofa boys' losing streak reaches three

The Kofa boys basketball team will carry a three-game losing streak when it faces Cibola on Friday.

With their senior post Orlando Lopez in foul trouble the entire night and a defensive rotation that seemed a step slow, the Kings fell to Lake Havasu 55-47 at home on Wednesday night.

“Our defense was not there tonight,” Kofa coach Danilo Montialli. “We were rotating slow and not rebounding the basketball.”

Entering the night, Kofa (10-7) was ranked No. 6 in Division I Section I while Lake Havasu (15-1) sat at No. 2. The Kings played right with the Knights until halfway into the second quarter, when Lake Havasu took control and never looked back.

Senior guard Daniel Santana led the Kings with 23 points despite a rough shooting night from the outside (1 for 8 on 3-pointers) and senior post Jan Belchoir added 12 points and seven rebounds.

However, the Kings couldn't find a way to stop Lake Havasu senior guard Brandon Neskahi, who finished with 27 points and came up with several back-breaking baskets.

“He was able to get to the rim, especially when Orlando was in foul trouble,” Montialli said of Neskahi. “He's a tough matchup for us.”

Trevor Evans also added 12 points for the visiting Knights.

The game went back and forth throughout the first quarter, with the Kings trailing 17-14 after Neskahi made a basket at the buzzer. With 6:19 left in the second, Lopez picked up his third personal on an offensive foul.

Montialli sat Lopez the rest of the half and the Knights slowly pushed ahead. Trailing only 19-17, the Kings allowed the Knights to go on a 10-1 run to end the half and give them a comfortable lead — which they held the rest of the way.

With the 6-foot-7 Lopez on the bench, the Kings managed only four points in the second.

“It did effect our offense, because they were denying our guards a lot, which means it left the paint open,” Montialli said.

It only took Lopez 27 seconds into the second half to pick up his fourth foul — but Montialli felt he couldn't afford to send the post back to the bench.

“He sat the entire second quarter, so I needed to keep him to give him in to get him some game rhythm,” Montialli said.

The Knights were able to take advantage of the foul-plagued Lopez, who needed to play cautiously on defense — Neskahi scored several baskets by attacking the paint. The Kings managed to claw their way back, but it seemed every time Kofa threw a punch, the Knights were there to hit right back.

Belchoir opened up the fourth quarter with a basket to make it 38-32, but the Knights answered with four straight baskets — two from Evans sandwiched between two from Neskahi.

Trailing 46-32 with 4:12 left, the Kings got a boost of life when Santana stole the ball from Neskahi, drove it the length of the court before throwing a behind-the-back pass to Lopez, who finished with a dunk to ignite the crowd. Neskahi responded by calmly answering with a basket of his own, killing any momentum Kofa could have had.

The Kings are reeling now — they lost 62-59 at Cibola and 50-41 at Gila Ridge last week. With the one game left in the regular season — a highly anticipated matchup against the section's No. 4 seed Cibola on Friday — Kofa must turn it around in time for sectionals

“This is win or go home,” Santana said. “We just got to win.”