Who had the advantage Wednesday night when Nogales  took on Cactus Shadows in Division II boys basketball?

Was it Nogales, the rested team that hadn't played a game since Dec. 29 and traveled three-plus hours to arrive in Cave Creek? Or was it Cactus Shadows, which was playing its third game in as many nights?

Hard to know without early input from the coaches, but on the court  Nogales proved superior with a strong start in posting an 88-78 victory.

Nogales (14-3), last year's surprise 4A-I state champion, continued to play well in its bid for an encore. The Apaches ran their power-point game record to 9-0 and snapped Cactus Shadows' modest  two-game winning streak that started Monday night in its first of three games this week.

Nogales accomplished the victory by shooting 62 percent for the game, including 11-of-15 marksmanship from the floor in the first period when it raced to a 21-6 lead five minutes in to the contest.

"They're a good team and played like a team that's won state," first-year Cactus Shadows head coach Jamaal Scott said. "It  didn't  take them long to get going no matter how long they were on a bus."

The hottes Nogales player from the getgo was Apaches leading scorer Joseph Monreal. Monreal, who averages about 19 points a game, lit it up for 34 on Wednesday. He made his first five shots -- short jumpers, threes and drives to the basket. Monreal had 18 in the first half to pace Nogales to its 45-34 lead at the break.

"I wish we could start out every game like we did (tonight)," Nogales coach Ricardo De La Riva said. "IN any game you want to start out with a lead. Like the one we had tonight. They kept coming back at us, so it turned out it was very important to have the lead, especially away from home."

Cactus Shadows (9-5 overall and 6-3 in power-point games) was able to whittle the night-long deficit several times, but never in its favor. The Falcons slashed the 21-6 lead to 21-16. Trailing by mostly 8 to 12 through the middle of the third period, Cactus Shadows looked as though it was through when Nogales stretched the lead to 60-43 with three-plus minutes left in the third period.

But six straight points from freshman Xavier Smith initiated a 15-2 run that pulled Cactus Shadows within 62-58 with one quarter to play. Smith scored 17 points -- all in the second half. Smith's teammate, senior Austin Horton led his team with 23 points. He helped fuel the third-period rally that nearly caught Nogales.

Nogales regrouped in the final period, getting a handful of turnovers and lots of layups with a nice display of passing and finding the open man. The main beneficiary in the final period was junior forward Brian Cervantes, who finished with 20 points, 12 in the fourth period.

"We circled this week on the calender," Scott said of the three games in three nights. "They needed another game and we added them. It was a benefit for us no matter the final score. You want to play teams of their caliber."