YUMA, Ariz. – For the 21^st time in program history, Arizona Western Men's Basketball (26-6) won the Region I Championship, beating Cochise (29-3) 73-62 on Monday evening at Stronghold Gymnasium in Douglas, Ariz.

Yaxel Lendeborg helped the Matadors capture their first Region I title since 2019, scoring a team-high 25 points in the Matadors' 11^th consecutive win.

Cochise jumped out to an early lead but an Evan Butts three-pointer cut the deficit to 8-7. The Matadors tied the game at 13-13 thanks to a pair of LJ Glover free throws before Evan Butts and Marquis Hargrove each knocked down two free throws as part of a 6-0 run to give the Matadors a 17-13 lead.

The Matadors built a 10-point lead thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Lendeborg and Butts to put the Matadors up 29-19 before Cochise scored the final two points of the half, trimming the Matadors' halftime lead to 29-21.

Hargrove ended the game as the Matadors' second-leading scorer, scoring 17 points with 15 of them coming in the second half.

The Apaches used an early 10-4 run to start the second half, cutting the Matadors' lead to 33-31 but Arizona Western answered with a 5-0 run to push the lead back to seven at 38-31. AJ Marmolejos scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half and put the Matadors up 18 at 55-37 with a layup, giving Arizona Western its largest lead of the game. Cochise cut the Matadors' lead to nine points but Arizona Western was able to keep the lead, capping off the game with a Lendeborg slam.

The Matadors will now head to Salt Lake City, Utah to play for an automatic bid in the NJCAA DI Men's Basketball Championship, taking on the winner of Region 18, Salt Lake, in the West District Championship game on Saturday, March 11, at a time to be determined.