Ellis, Mountain Lions overpower Chaparral

The player wearing No. 32 for Sierra Vista boys basketball team the past three weeks looked like Maka Ellis and sounded like him, too.

But it wasn't until Friday night that the real Maka Ellis returned for the Mountain Lions.

Ellis, who has been hampered by an ankle injury suffered at the end of December, had 26 points to lift host Sierra Vista to a 63-46 victory over Chaparral.

"Maka had probably one of his best games in a while," Mountain Lions coach Keith Ulrich said. "He's been trying to get his rhythm back, but I think today was kind of his re-coming out party in that sense that he just was his normal self with his ability to take over games with his ability to score. The defense couldn't stop him."

Ellis made seven of his final nine field-goal attempts after a slow start — he scored 19 points in the middle quarters — and added six rebounds and two assists.

Maui SeraJosef finished with 14 points, and Chris McCoy pulled down 11 rebounds for the Mountain Lions (9-13), who never trailed in winning their third straight game.

"We've had a lot of turmoil this season. We've had kids quit; we've had lineup changes," Ulrich said. "We had to call up two JV guys who are starting (Calvin Richards and Maitland Williams) now. For us, it was more about getting our team right, moving forward with the group we have currently with those JV callups and building some chemistry, which I think this week going 3-0 they've done a great job of doing."

Marc Silas was the only player in double figures with 13 points for Chaparral. The Cowboys (14-8) shot 34 percent from the field (18-for-53) and were held to fewer than 50 points for only the fourth time this season.

"We knew the type of team they were," Ulrich said. "We knew they wanted to shoot 3s, and if we just did a good job of closing out shooters and keeping them in front of us that we could do a good job defensively. They did a really good job in the first half of taking them out of what they want to do."

Sierra Vista opened the game on a 10-0 run, and Ellis scored the final six points of the first half to give the Mountain Lions a 32-20 halftime lead.

Chaparral got a brief spark midway through the third quarter after a technical foul on the Cowboys' bench and scored eight straight points to climb within 39-31 before the Mountain Lions pulled away.

Kevin Tobie's floater in the lane put Sierra Vista up 55-35 in the fourth quarter, and Richards went coast to coast for a layup after a steal to give the Mountain Lions their biggest lead at 60-39 with 4:15 remaining.

"We're in a great spot," Ulrich said. "It's a new season for us, and that's the type of attitude those guys have taken. Our chemistry is better than it's been all season long."

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ