A four-year varsity player, Borgeson scored a game-high 25 points in his final game for the Timberwolves, who finished their abbreviated spring campaign with a 3-7 record. Threadgill, who will play football for Arizona Christian, contributed 10 points, five rebounds, four steals and two demonstrative dunks.
Isaih Baptista paced the balanced Jaguars with 14 points. Dylan de Lemas added 13 points and hit three of their seven 3s. Jacob Sarmiento had 12 points and six rebounds while anchoring Kimball’s active posts who gave Sierra some trouble.
“Obviously, it’s not the way we wanted to end our season and our high school careers, but at the end of the day I think we’re all just thankful to have the opportunity to even be here right now playing a basketball game with our friends the past four years,” Borgeson said. “I’m glad I got to spend it with some of my closest friends and I just wanted to take it all in. It still hasn’t hit me yet but I’m sure it will later tonight.”
Sierra won the series opener Thursday at Kimball 60-51, getting 32 points from sophomore guard Arvin Chohan. He was limited to eight points, all in the second half, of the rematch, but he did come up with four steals.
Following a video presentation before pregame warm-ups, the Timberwolves went with an all-senior starting lineup and quickly fell behind, 10-2. It was an uphill climb for the rest of the game. Sierra was able to tie up at 21-21 after Borgeson drained the second of two free throws late in the second quarter but never led.
Leading 54-50 with 3 minutes to go, Kimball closed on a 7-2 run as the Timberwolves went ice cold from the field. Sierra’s only points in that stretch came from a breakaway dunk from Threadgill.
“There were just a lot emotions going into the game and it’s hard to beat a team two nights in a row with no practice,” Sierra coach Eddie Morales said. “They were probably a little more fired up, and they shot the ball a lot better than they did yesterday. We didn’t shoot as well and had a lot of good looks for most of the game, but down the stretch I thought our shot selection was bad.”
Borgeson did the bulk of his scoring in the middle two quarters. After getting shut out in the opening period, he hit a corner 3 early in the second and got on a roll. The 6-foot-1 wing mostly struggled with his outside shot, so he attacked the paint for higher-percentage looks and fouls that sent him to the free-throw line.
In the third quarter, he scored Sierra’s first 11 points and assisted Chohan’s fastbreak bucket in the final minute. Overall, he made 12 of 13 free throws to help keep the Timberwolves in the game.
“I started pretty slow and had a slow (start) in the game yesterday, too,” Borgeson said. “I had a lot of shots that I should have hit this game, but I just tried to get to the rack and get fouls. Just tried to get going as much as possible.”
Threadgill certainly got the team going as they went back the locker room for halftime.
In a helter-skelter finish to the first half, Sierra picked up a backcourt steal that presented Threadgill with a lane to the basket. The athletic 6-4 forward slammed it emphatically over Kimball’s Chinedu Kwankwo, who had six rebounds and three blocks.
“I was just expecting to get a little normal dunk, and when I went up I saw him underneath me,” Threadgill said. “Everybody started going crazy. It was a good energy boost. I wish we would have finished it out better, but it was a fun game.”
