The Ironwood Eagles will head out on the road to face off against the Centennial Coyotes at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Ironwood is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last 13 games.
Ironwood put the finishing touches on their 11th blowout victory of the season on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Apollo 63-32 at home. Given Ironwood's advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked fifth, while Apollo is ranked 58th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Blake Carabio and Noah Gifft were among the main playmakers for Ironwood as the former scored 21 points along with five assists and two steals and the latter went 7 for 9 from beyond the arc en route to 26 points and 2 assists. Gifft has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last six times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jadden Jones, who scored five points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Centennial was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Thursday as they fell 54-50 to Sunrise Mountain.
Ironwood's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-2. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 79.7 points per game. As for Centennial, their loss dropped their record down to 11-9.
Everything came up roses for Ironwood against Centennial in their previous matchup back in November of 2023 as the squad secured a 81-52 win. With Ironwood ahead 43-20 at the half, the match was all but over already.
