Coronado’s Josiah Cunningham (23) celebrates a play during a Big City Showdown basketball game against Bishop Gorman at Coronado High School in Henderson Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.
Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024 | 12:40 a.m.
Jeff Kaufman is in his 18th season coaching the Coronado High basketball team.
The Cougars have accomplished plenty: They’ve won league titles, reached the state tournament, sent players to college, and even have a graduate playing in the NBA.
Saturday, the program took another step forward by beating perennial state power Bishop Gorman for the first time.
Josiah Cunningham had 21 points in helping Coronado grow a double digit lead in the second half, and the Cougars withstood a late push by visiting Gorman for a 74-63 win in the Big City Showdown.
“Bishop Gorman, in my opinion, is by far the best coached high school program in the country,” Coronado coach Jeff Kaufman said. “It’s a great program and we had never beaten them. OK, it’s just a league game and we will play them again, so it might not mean that much. But our kids aren’t jumping around going crazy because we respect them and what they’ve done for the community.”
Coronado was tabbed as a favorite to win the state championship going into the season partially because of Cunningham, who many feel is the state’s best player. He didn’t disappoint Saturday, whether that was draining 3-pointers or aggressively taking the ball to the basket to score.
Cunningham was so active on both ends of the court that he experienced leg cramps in the fourth quarter.
“I was really focused on controlling the pace of the game and putting my teammates in a position where they can score,” Cunningham said.
Junior Lantz Stephenson had 18 points for Coronado, Jonny Collins added 13 and Tee Bartlett tallied 12.
Coronado went with a six-man player rotation — and got the most out of each.
Take the sophomore guard Collins, who when Gorman came rallying back in the third quarter to cut its deficit to three points, calmly drained a 3-pointer to pad the Coronado advantage.
It’s the type of lead past Coronado teams would have blown against Gorman. But this team is different — it could be the school’s first state champion. Coronado opened in 2001.
“This group is battle tested,” Kaufman said. “We took them all over the country to play (in the preseason) and they learned not to back down. They are tough and they are going to keep fighting, win or lose.”
Strong second half lifts Liberty over Arbor View
Liberty limited Arbor View to 19 points in the second half of a 62-49 victory at the Big City Showdown.
Sophomore Tyus Thomas led Liberty with 14 points, helping the Patriots improve to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in league contests as they look to reach the state title game for a third straight season.
The game went back and forth through the initial three quarters, but Liberty pulled away in the fourth.
Arbor View post player Pharaoh Compton scored a game-high 15 points and dominated the inside before fouling out with 3:52 to play. With the 6-foot-8 Compton on the bench, Liberty was able to attack the rim.
“We came together as a team and started to take the ball to the basket,” Thomas said.
Maximus Romero added 11 for Arbor View.
