A crowded 4A-II East Sky Region boys basketball race squeezed even closer Friday night. Queen Creek had a chance to get some solid footing, but a 74-69 loss to host Phoenix Arcadia dropped the Bulldogs to 9-3 in region, just a half-game ahead of Chandler Seton overall and even with the Sentinels in the loss column.

Arcadia and Gilbert Perry both have four region losses. The teams have a week and a half left of play.

"Still a jumble," Queen Creek coach Troy Gibson said. "We're still in decent shape if we win out, but we've got to have a better performance than we did (Friday)."

The Bulldogs fell behind by double-digits early against Arcadia and stayed there for most of the game. They rallied late, twice closing it to a bucket in the final quarter. Queen Creek had a chance to tie in both instances, but missed a pair of lay-ups.

Arcadia (13-6, 7-4) made just 2-of-9 free throws in the last 1:19, but the Bulldogs didn't get any closer than three points during that time.

Luke Miller had a chance to cut the deficit to one point, but missed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go.

The Bulldogs would miss two more 3s and the Bulldogs eventually ran out the clock.

"We've nicknamed the kids 'The Cardiac Kids' because they want to make it interesting," Arcadia coach Scott Lovely said. "We can't seem to put anybody away and just be done with it."

Queen Creek dug itself a big hole, trailing by 13 at halftime and 12 heading into the final quarter.

Arcadia (21-5, 9-3) led 61-48 with 5:30 remaining in the game, until a 14-3 run cut it to 64-62.

A.J. Mlazgar spearheaded the comeback with three 3-pointers during the run, and made 10 in the game for his 30 points.

"If A.J. wasn't on tonight it could have been much worse," Gibson said.

The Titans grabbed control because of their inside game. Zach Jones had 24 points, most on easy buckets in the paint. Gibson said a team that prides itself on defense didn't have enough intensity in the first half.

"In the first half we had some guys that couldn't guard a mannequin," Gibson said. "We just struggled. You're not going to beat a good team if you just play a half of basketball."