Cactus Shadows basketball coach Zach Washut figured there was plenty of work ahead for his 2019-2020 squad after last season's team graduated nine players and all of its offensive firepower from a  23-4 state quarterfinal finish.

The few returning players in the gym this summer and fall collectively averaged 8.6 points a game last year. So the plan was to emphasize defense and go from there. Two-thirds of the way through the season and halfway through the 5A Northeast Valley Region slate all the Falcons have done is win.

Suffering through a tough first quarter and trailing by eight points early in the second, the Falcons gradually displayed the brand of ball that has them near perfect. Late runs in the thrid and fourth quarters Friday night resulted in win No. 18 as the No. 2 Falcons turned back host McClintock, 70-56, at Doc Zinke Gymnasium.

"What a I knew going in is we had a great group of guys," Washut said. "They've worked hard. Defense is what we concentrate on. I can't say I expected we'd do this well. But they believe and play unselfishly. That's made this season a joy to coach."

Cactus Shadows is 18-1 overall and 11-0 in power-ranking games. The Falcons are 6-0 in the seven-team NE Valley Region leading second-place Paradise Valley by a game. Cactus Shadows only loss  is to Ironwood in Sunnyslope's holiday tournament in late November. McClintock dropped to at 9-9, 6-4 in prg and 3-3 in region.

After trailing 17-14 after the first quarter and 22-14 early in the second, Cactus Shadows won the remaining three quarters yet topsy-turvy moments were ahead.

A one-point lead at halftime reached nine heading to the fourth quarter. The Falcons opened the fourth period with a 6-0 run -- all those points coming in the paint from Nolan Hokanson (12 points). Hokanson scored 10 of his points in the final quarter.

McClintock, however, which favored the three-point shot, got hot. Four treys  - three by Chance Garland (15 points) and one by Armani Williams (15 points) - highlighted a 14-2 run that cut Cactus Shadow's lead to three with 3:46 to play. McClintock did not score after that, missing six threes to the finish. The Falcons 11-0 run to ice the game came via four layups and three free throws. McClintock was 8 of 34 unofficially from three-point range.

Cactus Shadows got  steady perimeters shooting from Peyton Richardson, who led all scorers with 23 points. Richardson sank  6 of 11 threes. Senior post Brandon Youngkrantz along with Hokanson made the inside game work. Youngkrantz had trouble making bunnies in the first quarter, but rallied to finish with 18 points.

"I think we counted 10 layups we missed in the first half," Washut said. "We settled down after that. We did a much better job rebounding the second half, and got the stops we wanted."