The one-and-one free throw situation is a thing of the past in high school basketball. In an effort to decrease injuries due to battling after the first shot of the old bonus situation, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Basketball Rules Committee adopted the method used by the NCAA for women’s games since the 2015 season when the women switched to four quarters rather than two halves. Teams will now shoot two free throws after the fifth foul in each quarter with the team foul totals reset after each quarter back to zero.

This new rule should also reduce the length of games as was shown Wednesday night when Canyon del Oro defeated Sahuarita 63-46 at home in just over an hour. Getting to the fifth foul in each quarter before shooting free throws in just eight minutes of play might prove to be a high bar and games should flow more smoothly now.

In the game at CDO, the Dorados and Mustangs played evenly for most of the first half of play with the Dorados leading 13-10 after the first quarter and 32-26 at the half. Sahuarita did take an 18-15 lead on a 3-pointer from Alejandro Vega with 6:21 left in the second quarter but the Dorados went on a 17-4 run to take a 32-22 lead with 2:05 left before the Mustangs closed on a four straight points to end the quarter,

Sahuarita cut the lead down to 32-31 with 6:07 in the third on a bucket and a 3-pointer from Gionni Chavarria but the Dorados went on another run, fueled by a 3 from Sean McCarthy and two deep shots from Mykael Nunez, to go up 47-33 heading into the fourth quarter.

Canyon del Oro took a 56-35 lead with 5:18 left in the game and the team coasted to a 63-46 win from there. Nunez led the Dorados with 19 points, Brandon Watson added 16, Will Dixion had 10 and Isaiah Gill had seven. Dixion had two dunks in the game.

Daniel Durazo led the Mustangs with 13 points, Vega had eight, Chavarria had seven and Ruben Villalba scored six.

Sahuarita (0-1) will take part in the Dick McConnell Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Sahuaro (0-0) at Pima Community College starting on Wednesday, Nov. 22 against Desert View (0-0) and Canyon del Oro (1-0) will host Sabino (0-0) next Tuesday before heading out to Coolidge for the Joe Partain Memorial Classic on Friday, Nov. 24 where the Dorados will take on Rincon/University (0-0) and Nogales (0-0) on the first day of action.

The 22nd Annual Boyd Baker Holiday Tipoff Classic will be held at Amphitheater High School from Nov. 20-22 for both boys and girls.

CDO senior Will Dixion. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)