The Falcons are nearing the end of the season, and they are still undefeated. The Fountain Hills High School boys basketball team improved to 21-0 this past week, and they host No. 9 Scottsdale Christian Academy (SCA) in the last home game of the regular season tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 2.

The boys beat Chino Valley (1-14) 66-13 on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and they beat Camp Verde (4-11) 75-31 on Saturday, Jan. 28. Both games were special to the team, as last Tuesday was senior night, and Saturday’s game was played at the Fort McDowell Recreation Center.

The Falcons have nine seniors, and only four of them played last year. Luke Bloedel and Aiden Logan have been key players for two years, while Deisel Giger and Ty Cosman each stepped up their game considerably over the offseason. Cosman had missed the previous two games, but he played on senior night.

The Falcons never trailed, and they dominated Chino Valley (1-18). Senior Jake Zuberbuhler earned the starting spot over junior Keaton Ort on senior night, and he helped the Falcons reach 20 wins for the second year in a row.

Zuberbuhler didn’t score any points, but his defense forced several mistakes by Chino Valley. The Falcons led 41-11 at halftime, and they only let the Cougars score two points in the second half.

“If we get a stop on defense, we’re out and going to score right away or set up the offense and get it going,” Zuberbuhler said. “We haven’t had a home game until the past two weeks for the whole season. This is our time to sine in front of our people.”

Before the recent six-game home stretch, the Falcons had played five road games and two tournaments. Bloedel and Logan each scored a team high of 16 points on senior night, and Ort had 12 points. Giger scored eight and fellow senior Jack Ervin scored seven.

The Falcons ended their home stretch over at the Fort McDowell Rec Center this past Saturday, and they put on another dominating show defeating Camp Verde. Logan and senior Napherious Doka-Johnson each received loud cheers from the Fort McDowell section, and Doka-Johnson called the support “special.”

Fort McDowell used to host one game a year for Fountain Hills High School as a way to bridge the two communities. There hadn’t been any games at the rec center for a few years, but the crowd was rocking last Saturday night.

Doka-Johnson wasn’t on the team last year, but he’s been the Falcons’ sixth man this season. He’s scored double-digit points in six of the 18 games he’s played and his season high of 19 came in a three-point win at Gilbert Christian. Doka-Johnson was the Falcons’ third leading scorer with nine points on Saturday.

“When everybody’s all focused on them, then I have an opening,” Doka-Johnson said about scoring behind Ort and Logan. “That’s pretty much it…Keep doing what we’re doing. Defense first, then offense.”

Doka-Johnson is averaging 6.6 points, 1.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He started the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s game with back-to-back scoring drives, and he stole the ball and scored in transition on the second drive.

Ort led the team with 20 points at Fort McDowell, and Giger added 10. Doka-Johnson scored nine points, Logan scored eight and Bloedel added seven points.

Bloedel, Logan, Giger and Cosman have started in every game they were healthy for this year. There were seven Falcons to start in total, and Doka-Johnson stepped into the starting lineup when Cosman was injured. He said it felt no different and handled his business like normal, and on the other side, Zuberbuhler said getting to start even one time this year was “awesome.”

Head coach Jeff Bonner would not start either of them if they didn’t hustle or play defense like he wanted to see. Bonner has steadily built up the program, and one year after getting his first 20-win season, the Falcons reached that same mark without issue.

Bonner currently has an 84-41 record as head coach dating back to the 2018-19 season. The Falcons went 22-7 last year and they only have three more regular season games after publication. They played at Wickenburg (3-12) yesterday, after press time on Tuesday, Jan. 31, and they host SCA (8-5) tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 2.

Next week, the Falcons finished their season on the road. They play at No. 19 Northwest Christian (7-6) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8, and they play at No. 21 Bourgade Catholic (7-7) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 9.

As a top seed team, the Falcons will receive a first round bye in the state playoffs and host the second round at home. Should they keep their No. 2 ranking, they will play the winner of the No. 18 and No. 15 seeds at home on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m.