Revenge is a dish best served cold and there are few things colder than handing an opponent a playoff loss.

Mesa Ridge, the 12^th seed in the boys 5A state basketball playoffs, served a 70-63 home win to 21^st seed Falcon, snapping a 15-game winning streak for the visitors on Friday. Just one week ago, Falcon beat Mesa at home to a 10-game run for the Grizzlies.

The loss forced Mesa Ridge (18-6) to evolve.

“We struggled coming as a team this year and I think that loss just brought us together,” Grizzlies junior Dustin Haley said. “We’re all such a good team. We reached our full potential today or half our full potential so I believe we can do much more.”

After both teams were tied at 14 to end the first quarter, Mesa Ridge found its defensive footing and made it difficult for Falcon to score points in the paint. The first shot would seldom fall for the visitors and Falcon (17-7) had to rely on put backs.

At first, Mesa Ridge struggled to capitalize on the turnovers but a 3-pointer from Haley and two more from junior Tavion Cross helped the Grizzlies take a 6-point lead into the half.

“Defense comes first in our effort, just carried us through. We didn’t think about the offense as much, we practice it ,but it comes with our effort and playing together,” Haley said.

Despite the Grizzlies’ stout defense, Falcon found its offensive rhythm in the second half. Falcon senior Aiden Wood opened the half with a pair of free throws, junior Isaak Lane scored on the fast break and Jacob G Hunter and Kamrin Lane both earned “And-1” opportunities for the visitors.

But the Grizzlies gave as good as they got. Haley hit two shots from beyond the arc in the third quarter and senior Isaiah Lucas was unstoppable on the drive, elevating over Falcon’s tall defenders to preserve the lead. He scored nine of his 12 second-half points in the third quarter.

“Isaiah, he doesn’t get too many fouls called for him because he’s a big guy. But he keeps attacking and attacking. He found a little finesse around the rim today that really helped us,” Mesa Ridge coach Joel Babbitt said. “He’s just such a tough matchup for people. You can’t guard him one-on-one you gotta bring two, three guys and when he does find that seam he’s really tough to stop.”

Lucas finished with a team-high 20 points while Haley added 16 and senior J’Marius Jones scored 10.

In the fourth quarter Falcon and Mesa Ridge were evenly matched with both teams scoring 19. Despite trailing, the visitors never lost faith. Following a thunderous dunk from Grizzlies senior Brian Lamar that put Mesa Ridge up 12 points with less than two minutes to go, Falcon cut the deficit to as little as four. But the Grizzlies’ side of the packed house on Friday refused to let their team down and cheered them on to the final buzzer before the student section took to the court to congratulate their classmates.  

“We were on a nice win streak and Falcon just wanted it more the other day and worked really hard. Great, great team. What an amazing second-round game,” Babbitt said. “But we saw it in practice yesterday, they were just competing, competing, competing and they brought it out here. … Our guys decided we were going to get more rebounds than them tonight and I think that was the difference.”

Mesa Ridge will host 28^th-seed Palmer Ridge on Tuesday.