An emotionally charged game filled with three technical fouls and one ejection ended in a 68-57 Saguaro road victory over Seton Catholic. 

Saguaro held on to an 11-point lead as the clock winded down on Tuesday night, keeping Seton Catholic’s season winless at 0-7. The score doesn’t tell the full story of the action-packed game, though.

Seton Catholic started the game hot, scoring its first seven points before Saguaro could make a basket. Seton Catholic remained competitive all first half, despite a clear disadvantage down low to a much bigger Saguaro team. 

“Our defense had a few mental lapses here and there. We’ll fix that as the season goes on,” Seton guard Antonio Flores said.

Emotions ran high all game as Seton Catholic’s scrappy defense and intensity were met by the size and consistent offense of Saguaro. These emotions would lead to three amassed technical fouls and one ejected Saguaro player. The players on both sides continued to bark at each other, leading to intense play and some intense exchanges throughout the game.

 “Maybe there’s a little bad blood now, but basketball's an emotional sport and we really wanted to get a win,” Seton guard Andrew Scranton said.

Saguaro’s big third quarter and dominance down low proved to be too much for Seton Catholic to overcome. The undersized team felt that this game showed a lot of positives despite the tough loss, however. 

 “Today we had growth, yesterday we came out flat but today we came out with a lot of energy, we were a lot sharper, and we were a lot more focused on the defensive end,” Seton head coach Raymond Patche said. 

Growth and experience seem to be the only positives to take out of a rough start to a season, but there are good signs in the program. The team’s intense play and display of emotion allowed them to compete and frustrate the top team in the league. Although there is still much to do to become a winning program, the team is hopeful to begin to win after the progress shown in this game. 

“This is probably one of our best basketball games we’ve played. We started off good, we talked, we played defense, and we just need to keep moving on from there,” Flores said.

As Seton Catholic continues on its hunt for the first win of the season, the team looks to the improvements they’ve made and will need to continue to work on. The team is looking to build an identity around its defense, and the play shown against Saguaro is a step in the right direction. 

“Defense is 100% the anchor to our team and it starts with passion. The passion the kids have to bring and the passion I’m going to try and bring to those guys,” Patche said.

Seton Catholic is a young program with a young team. Where they lack size and stars they plan on compensating with heart and passion. Despite another loss, the team looks to the future with some positives.

“I think we have a lot to build on and hopefully, we can enter the next game with a positive mindset,” Scranton said.