NBC 11 Sports: Arizona Western hoops drops thriller in overtime, Kofa boys and girls soccer each with big bounce back wins
YUMA, Ariz., (KYMA, KECY) - When the name ESPN is in the air, people flock towards the gym - and that's what happened on Wednesday night on the campus of Arizona Western College.
With the partnership between ESPN and the NJCAA, games will be broadcasted on ESPN+ to feature NJCAA Games of the Week. Wednesday, the crew marked Arizona Western as their next destination with the Cochise Apaches in town.
For the Matador Men's, they were faced with a tough challenge to tip off the night - the Apaches coming in as the best team in the ACCAC and the team that knocked them out in the Region I final last year.
And this one felt like a postseason atmosphere.
Fans packed The House with cameras all over the gym and the Matadors came out ready to play, taking a one-point lead in to the half against a team they lost to by 26 less than two months earlier.
The second half proved to be a scratch and claw half for AWC, who had to battle back from down nine at one point to bring it back to a ball game in the final minute. Down by two with seven seconds left, the Matadors play was snuffed out and Isaiah Amato had to throw up a prayer that was short.
But in dramatic fashion, Yaxel Lendeborg snagged the ball out of the air and laid it in to tie the game with 0.3 seconds to go and send it to overtime - two of his 28 points on a double-double night.
In overtime though, the Apaches took control and knocked down big shots, icing it with several free throws to survive on the road. The Matadors now falling to Cochise for the fourth time in two years.
"We played hard and did some good things, but when you turn the ball over 23 times it's hard to win," said coach Kyle Isaacs after the loss. "I learned a long time ago from coach Green who coached here, in an emotional game like this, it's just best to go into the locker room, tell them to keep their heads up, give them their information for the next day, and reconvene after that."
The star of the night was Yaxel Lendeborg with 28 points and 18 rebounds, but the loss had him and the squad with bad tastes in their mouths - something he says they never want to taste again this season.
"We now know how this felt and we never want to feel like this again," said Lendeborg. "I feel like we can definitely win the rest of these games because of the fire the whole team had after this loss. You could see it in all of their eyes. We're ready to win the next four games, five games. However many games we have left."
The Matadors fall to (15-5) overall and (8-4) in conference play and get a chance to bounce back at home on Saturday against Scottsdale.
In the night's encore, the Lady Matadors had a similar match up - up against the Apaches who came into the night as the second best team in the conference.
After a stellar first quarter that had the Matadors hanging onto a lead, they would be outplayed and outscored in the second and third quarters, resulting in a double-digit deficit.
The Matadors would claw their way back in, coming within as little as five points late in the fourth quarter - but they could not get any close.
Arizona Western would fall 52-40 and fall to under .500 in conference play and (13-7) overall. They too have the chance to bounce back at home on Saturday with Scottsdale coming in to town.
In high school sports, it was a big bounce back night for Kofa boys and girls soccer. Each team dropped significantly in the 5A rankings after a loss to Glendale on Monday with the regular season winding down.
Wednesday, they each returned to form with wins - the boys avoiding catastrophe and holding off a Washington comeback to hang on 3-2. The girls were led by Arlene Meza's two goals on the way to a 4-1 win.
Both will be back in action next week against San Luis.
