Highland High	17	9	17	29	72
Red Mountain	13	16	12	14	55
December 9, 2008 - 07:00PM - Red Mountain Full box score| More Boys Basketball

Having missed Gilbert Highland’s last six games due to an ankle injury, forward Chris Johnson had the freshest legs on the court Tuesday night. It showed in the fourth quarter.

Active and aggressive, Johnson scored 14 of his 21 points in the final eight minutes when the No. 2 Hawks broke open a back-and-forth contest to come away with a 72-55 road victory over No. 5 Mesa Red Mountain in a 5A-I game.

“He played big all night long,” coach Mark Carlino said. “It’s nice to see him back. I just hope he doesn’t have any setbacks.”

The 6-foot-6, 205-pound senior showcased his inside game, scoring 18 of his points in the paint but also displayed an outside touch, hitting a 15-foot jumper midway through the fourth to extend Highland’s advantage to 58-50. Johnson posted his career high with the Hawks despite not being 100 percent.

“I still have a lot of rehab to do. I just started last week,” said Johnson, who also controlled the glass, finishing with a game-high 11 rebounds. He turned four of those boards into eight second-chance points.

Guard Matt Carlino had an impressive game as well, finishing with 27 points (7 of 11 on 3-pointers), seven assists, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks, both of which came in the decisive fourth quarter.

The victory was the fourth straight for Highland (8-1) and ended a seven-game winning streak for the Mountain Lions (7-2), whose only other loss came against the Hawks in the season opener for both.

“We’d like to see them one more time,” coach Greg Sessions said. “The only way we could, would be in the state tournament.”

The first meeting ended with a similar score, 70-52, but the second “was a much tougher game,” Mark Carlino said.

Tuesday’s game featured seven ties and 13 lead changes, and Highland took only a 43-41 lead into the final quarter. The Hawks pulled away with strong defense, which led to several easy transition buckets.

Chris Lewis paced Red Mountain with 17 points .