Devin Bradshaw is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cesar Chavez High School for AZPreps365.com

With 6 seconds left, Cesar Chavez coach Joe Esposito drew up his best play.

They got the matchup they wanted, but the shot wouldn't fall for Adonis La Fleur. It took overtime and sloppy play Champions to be handed their first loss in region play of the season, as they fell to the North Mustangs 47-45.

“Yes, we drew it up, we had the isolation, and a seal on the other side to try to get the two or go ahead and hit the three if it got open,” Esposito said. “We got a decent look.” 

La Fleur, before that shot was 3-for-5 from the 3, he’d hit big shots all night when his team needed him to.

“The last shot I took,” La Fleur said. “It felt good, I was comfortable, I was in rhythm.”

Turnovers, failure to get rebounds and bad fouls hampered the Champions Thursday night.

Self-inflicted wounds are the story of this game, Cesar Chavez got outside of itself. The Champions made bad passes, over penetrated, they played tight. They just couldn’t get out of their own way.

“You know, mistakes happen,” Esposito said. “But the ones you can avoid are the ones that hurt the most. We were trying to do too much. I just felt like we didn’t have the energy that we needed to get the win.”

Down three with 20 seconds remaining, Cesar Chavez was granted another opportunity to win. Leading scorer, freshman guard Alexander Clontz was fouled shooting a 3-pointer that would’ve tied the game and possibly sent the game to another overtime.

He missed all three.

“We had a chance to tie the game, with our best shooter at the free-throw line, but he’s a freshman,” Esposito said.

“He’s a great player, our leading scorer, but I think that it was just a freshman moment, but there were way more opportunities to win that game.”

The Mustangs came into the game with a ton of energy. Having lost the first two matchups of the season against Cesar Chavez, they knew they needed this win badly, and they played that way from the beginning.

A tight, scrambling zone from the Mustangs forced the Champions into many mistakes.

“We knew North was going to come out with a lot of energy in the game,” La Fleur said. “After the (first) two wins against them we knew this third win was going to be the toughest to get.”

Their grit kept the Champions in the game. Their toughness allowed them to hang around at a time when they weren't their best.

In the end, it wasn’t enough. 

The Champions, now instead of being the sole champions of the 6A Metro region, must share the title with North and their postseason hopes are in jeopardy.

Cesar Chavez has three games left, there’s no time to hang their heads if they want to get into the state tournament.

“We still have to fight,” Esposito said. “We have to figure out a way to get that 24th spot. We’re sitting at 25. We have three games left and we are going to keep fighting and hopefully, we get a chance.”