Nearly a decade ago, current Cibola head boys basketball coach Denis Ponder was coaching a peewee basketball team here in Yuma.
Joining his team that year was a young wrestler who was branching out into the sports world, trying new things. In games for Ponder’s team, the young player was relentless in his efforts to score, putting up shots from close range all the way back to half court.
Now a junior with the Raiders, Jose Fernandez may have grown and changed a lot since his first competitive basketball experience as an eight-year-old, but he still carries the same enthusiasm to score the basketball as he did on that fateful debut with his longtime coach, taking half-court heaves on eight-foot baskets.
Fernandez had a breakout season with the Raiders as a junior, averaging over 15 points a game by scoring all over the hardwood, most notably as one of the only high-flyers that can get up and dunk the basketball in the Yuma area. His scoring efforts helped the Raiders reach the Play-In round of the 6A state tournament for the second year in a row. For his contributions and elite play as a junior, Fernandez is the 2023-24 Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
“He’s got so much confidence in his ability to score and get to the hoop and make something happen,” Ponder said of Fernandez. “He’s had that desire ever since he first stepped on the court as a kid – that degree of confidence in himself that he could do anything. You still see him carry that same approach to the game to this day.”
Fernandez was first exposed to the game of basketball around the age of eight during a trip to the park with his father and older brother. The elder Fernandez boy, Chris, was working on his game with their father as Jose tagged along. At the park, Jose put up his first shot and never looked back.
Later that year, he was enrolled in youth basketball with Ponder. That led into grasshopper-level basketball during his late elementary school years and early middle school years, as well as Desert Elite, a travel team started by Ponder and Tony Stanley, father to Fernandez’s longtime teammate Dylan Stanley, who also plays at Cibola.
“That was our first real competitive basketball experience together,” Ponder said of Fernandez. “Even then he had that confidence and will to make an impact on the game. He’s always been wired that way.”
Fast forward to high school, Fernandez’s size had ballooned to well over six-feet-tall, along with a surge of athleticism that came with his development. He was called up to varsity for eight games as a freshman and his potential truly came into view.
“You could see it coming with him as he grew up,” Ponder said. “There was always the question of how tall he’d get and what he’d look like when he got older. The athleticism was there, the desire and inner drive was there. Once he really grew into his frame we knew he was going to be special.”
As a sophomore, Fernandez continued to learn the tricks of the trade, consistently contributing for the Raiders on a nightly basis. He had a handful of games with over 15 points, but that did not compare to what he’d go on to do as a junior.
Fernandez opened his junior year with a bang. As a freshman, he had dunked for the first time in practice inside Raider Gym, but never before in a live game in front of fans. At the Raiders’ opening tournament in Phoenix against Copper Canyon, Cibola won the tip and ran a play designed for a Fernandez finish at the basket.
“He was streaking down the court and we got him the ball and he went up for a dunk in the very first play of our entire season,” Ponder recalled. “I know it meant a lot to him to be able to dunk in a game and have that kind of a moment and for it to happen so quickly. Those kind of moments set the tone for him and our team for the rest of the year.”
Through the first eight games of the season, Fernandez scored over 15 points three times, including an 11-for-13 day from the field where he scored 23 points against Fairfax. The Raiders did not report stats online for the remainder of the season, but individual reports have Fernandez’s career-high at 32 points in the second of two games against the Criminals of Yuma High. That night, Fernandez refrained from his electric abilities at the rack, instead opting to shoot from range. He made eight out of 12 shots from three-point land.
The Raiders finished with a 15-9 record in the 2023-24 season. Fernandez, along with fellow juniors Stanley and Daniel Ponder, who have all been playing together since they were in elementary school, were the main force of offensive production for the team, all with close averages floating around 15 points per game. Fernandez was the outlier on rebounds, averaging 4.2 per game, along with just under two assists and one steal per game.
Despite his hot performance from beyond the arc, Fernandez still strives to work on his shooting abilities, along with his defense. With one season of high school ball left to play, along with aspirations to play college basketball, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, even for a high-caliber player like Fernandez.
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By Mac Friday Sports Editor , www.yumasun.com
www.yumasun.com – Vivrr Local Results in sports/local_sports of type article , 2024-03-29 05:00:00
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