On January 16th, Sahuaro Boys’ Basketball secured a win against the then 4-16 Pueblo Warriors. The Cougars went into the game 15-2, having lost to only Tucson High – ranked #22 in Arizona, and Basha High School (Chandler, AZ), ranked #9. The Cougars competed passionately, making important plays on both defense and offense. The Cougars kept the game out of reach for the Warriors for the entire game; although never close, it was still a good watch for fans.
At the end of the first quarter, the score was 15-6, in favor of Sahuaro. By the end of the second, the Cougars had extended their lead to 35-13. Coming back from the half, scoring was a bit slow to get started, but the Cougar’s defense was persistent, and they held the Warriors to minimal points until they could get their rhythm back. To end off the 3rd quarter, the score was 47-22, before securing the win 63-31.
Following the game, head coach Jim Henry shared that the team had, “…a lot of energy. We’re kind of a defensive team and our defense was pretty solid tonight. We kind of use our defense to lead the offense and so the guys did a really good job on the defensive end of the floor for sure.” With such a lead in scoring, the Cougars were able to experiment with some of their new plays. Coach Henry said, “To be honest, we’ve kind of been working on a couple of different things defensively and offensively. Wildcat has been one of the ones that we’ve been working on changing. We actually used it earlier on in the game and we’ve been kind of having Cisco come off of it and curl.”
The team was also able to hone in on some of their other plays. “When we move the ball and get those wide-open shots, that’s kind of what we’re looking for. We had one very late in the game where the guys got a wide-open layup and a couple set plays that we ran. ‘Bang-Bang’ is one of our regulars that we use and the guys did a pretty good job of that one tonight,” Henry said.
Since it was the MLK Classic, as tradition, a member of the Sahuaro community was honored. This time, they honored Mr. Lundstrom, the recently retired assistant principal of Sahuaro. Mr. Lundstrom positively impacted many students and staff around campus through his undying devotion to the school, his smiling face, and his care for those around him. Mr. Lundstrom started as the assistant principal at Sahuaro in 2012. Before that, he was an AP American Government and Economics teacher. “He has always advocated for students in every field of endeavor. In the 1990s, Mr. Lundstrom became aware that employment of lifeguards was lacking employees of color. So he secured print forms and developed a program that identified, recruited, and trained students and provided water safety education in classes, while also educating students on how to apply, interview, and secure lifeguarding employment,” shared an announcement over the loudspeaker. The tribute also emphasized his efforts to encourage and tutor marginalized students to be able to have success in honors and AP classes.
Mr. Lundstrom tried to retire last year, but he soon came back as a temporary assistant principal until Sahuaro could find a replacement. In addition to his work as an administrator, Mr. Lundstrom, “…coached 4 Olympic try-out qualifiers, 27 high school all-Americans, and then of course the state championships.” Even though Mr. Lundstrom went to Sabino and graduated as a Sabercat, he will always be remembered as an honorary Sahuaro Class of 2023 graduate because of the legacy that he leaves behind.
