Harris leads Legacy boys past Mojave
Even as Legacy’s boys basketball team struggled to a 5-7 start, Cardon Harris sensed the Longhorns were coming together.
The junior forward can now point to Legacy’s five-game winning streak in the Northwest League as proof he was correct.
Harris had 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead the Longhorns to a 68-46 win at Mojave on Friday.
“Once we got that chemistry, we felt like we were unstoppable,” said Harris, one of four new starters this season. “We don’t have one set leader; everyone steps up. We’ve got all types of leaders on our team, and I’m one of them.”
Legacy (11-10, 7-4 Northwest) used a 25-5 second-half run to pull away and bolster its playoff hopes.
The Longhorns moved closer to wrapping up the Northwest’s fourth and final spot in the Sunset Region playoffs. Legacy has a three-game lead on Cheyenne (5-11, 4-7) and Mojave (6-13, 4-7) with five league games left.
“To come in and play a good game on their court is huge for our program,” Legacy coach Jack Tarango said. “We’ve grown together as a team. We had some bumps in the road early and took some losses, but as a young team does, they learned in December, and now they’re executing in January.”
A put-back by Deon Walters pulled Mojave within 32-30 midway through the third quarter, but Legacy’s Jalen Hall and Brandon Galindo hit consecutive 3-pointers to trigger the 25-5 run that enabled the Longhorns to pull away.
“We all just believed in each other,” Harris said of the run. “Coach gave us plays, and we just did our stuff.”
Chris Cook scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for Legacy, and teammate Zach Lane supplied 12 points and three steals.
Quintarus Harper led Mojave with 13 points and two steals. Ten players scored for the Rattlers, but no one else cracked double figures.
Andrew Lotts tallied four points, six rebounds and three blocks for Mojave, which shot 18-for-70 from the floor.
