Combs' emotional season for Preston Lord ends in 4A playoff loss at ALA Gilbert North

San Tan Valley Combs guard Logan Tuckfield held his head up along with Preston Lord's jersey to a cheering group of supporters as he left the court Wednesday night, after an emotional season-ending loss at American Leadership Academy Gilbert North.

The Coyotes opened going toe-to-toe with the top seed in the 4A boys basketball tournament, but Combs hit a wall late in the second quarter and never recovered in the 77-61 loss.

Combs scored 24 first-quarter points, trailing the Eagles by just a basket, and hit its last shot of the half with 3:13 to play on Jae Lujan's layup that gave the Coyotes (19-10) a 40-37 lead. ALA Gilbert North's Dylan Novak then hit a 3 and 6-foot-5 Connor Morris scored on a layup on a feed off the glass from Novak for the halftime lead.

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It was over four minutes into the second half with ALA Gilbert North (22-5) putting on a defensive clinic and starting a layup line on its way to a 55-42 lead.

"It feels really good to compete with this really good team," said Tuckfield, Lord's best friend, afterwards. "All these fans coming out. I don't know. I can't express it. It means so much to us after all we've been through."

The season started with players grieving, breaking down at practice, unable to contain welled-up emotions during timeouts in games. Their teammate Lord was brutally beaten and later died from his injuries in a late-October assault by a group on a street in a Queen Creek neighborhood at a Halloween party.

The community response

Since then the community has rallied seeking justice for Lord, wearing orange shirts, Lord's favorite color, with ''Justice for Preston'' written on them. Lord's death and subsequent outcry spurred additional focus on other beatings involving teenage victims in Gilbert-Queen Creek-San Tan areas carried out by groups of teens.

Lord's death exposed a string of attacks by teens in the southeast Valley. In December, an investigation by The Arizona Republic found the "Gilbert Goons," a gang of mostly affluent teenagers, had engaged in group assaults for more than a year. Most attacks occurred in Gilbert. Parents, students, and community activists say members of the Goons were involved in Lord's beating.

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ALA Gilbert North has been at the center of the community's cry for justice with parents and students who have said one of Lord's attackers attended the school. Police have not publicly identified any suspect tied to the school. However, in late December, Queen Creek police referred seven people, a mix of juveniles and adults, for charges related to Lord's death to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, which is reviewing the case.

Because of so much social media attention, Combs canceled its two region games with the Eagles in January with permission from the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

But this resilient Combs team never checked out under coach Hosea Graham.

They cried, they fought, they found a way to get to the 16-team 4A tournament, pulling out a remarkable 66-64 play-in win with a steal and basket with two seconds to play last weekend at Mesa Eastmark.

Playing for Preston Lord

They were playing for each other and for Preston, a 16-year-old junior, who had a spot at each game with his No. 5 jersey spread out on the first chair on the Combs' bench.

When the pairings came out Saturday, featuring this first-round game, media converged on ALA Gilbert North for the game. It brought out AIA Executive Director David Hines, who met with the two teams' captains at midcourt before the game.

ALA Gilbert North came out in warmups wearing orange shirts over their jerseys, showing their support in seeking justice for Preston Lord's family.

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"We want justice just like anybody else," ALA Gilbert North coach Dave Novak said after the game. "We're just as frustrated. So definitely we came out with the orange shirts. We spoke with them. We made sure it was OK with Combs. Their coach has been amazing. We nominated him Coach of the Year.

"They were amazing tonight. They were tough."

Graham was amazed by the effort of his players and the support from the Combs community.

Support from the Combs community

ALA Gilbert North's length and strength ended up being too much for Combs to handle in the second half.

"I'm not sad, I'm not hurt, I'm not disappointed," Graham said. "We hit a wall. We're not deep. We played as hard as we possibly could. I know that maximum effort was out there. We have a lot to be proud of."

Graham said the emotions of the win-or-go-home game, playing at ALA Gilbert North, took a lot out of the players.

"The crowd helped us out," he said. "We are so blessed to have this community behind us. And class act by ALA (Gilbert) North, the way they represented. That coach has a great program going on. And that's where we're trying to get to."

Novak got emotional talking about this game and seeing what Combs players and the community are going through.

"We're all here for justice, man, we want the same thing," Novak said. "It's just horrible. We're just trying to do our best to win games and play tough.

"I thought it was a great atmosphere. They cheered hard for their team. We just want the same thing. Hopefully, everybody finds Jesus, finds God, finds something bigger than this, because it's not about basketball."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Combs' emotional season for Preston Lord ends at ALA Gilbert North