2A finals: Gilbert Christian, Valley crowned champs
February 26, 2017 by Game Previews, AZPreps365
By Jason Stone
PRESCOTT VALLEY — Saturday’s 2A boys basketball state championship game was scheduled on a neutral court, but if you ask Gilbert Christian players, they’ll tell you they won another state championship on the road.
In front of a near-capacity, mostly pro-Alchesay crowd at the Prescott Valley Events Center, fifth-seeded Gilbert Christian held on to win its sixth state championship over second-seeded Alchesay 66-51.
“We knew the crowd was going to be into it (for Alchesay),” Gilbert Christian coach Kurt Keener said after capturing his second state trophy as the team’s coach in three years. “We’ve dealt with adversity before. We just believe in one another.”
Gilbert Christian (25-5) appeared to be working on a blowout in the first half when sophomore guard Kyle Patterson hit a shot at the halftime buzzer to give the Knights a 21-point lead.
That advantage grew to 24 early in the third quarter.
But Alchesay’s loud fanbase helped propel the Falcons back into the game with a 19-6 run in the middle of the third quarter. Eventually, Alchesay (33-3) was able to get the deficit down to 10 in the fourth quarter thanks to tenacious defense that put Gilbert Christian out of its rhythm.
“It was tough out there (in the second half),” senior forward Nate Graville said. “I’m not going to lie.”
Graville scored 21 points to tie for the lead for all scorers, with 14 of them coming in the second half when the Knights needed them most.
Alchesay wouldn’t go away until the end. Steals at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth both led to layups, and the Falcons cut the deficit to 61-51 with two minutes to go and put the Falcons’ fans in a frenzy.
“That was the loudest I’ve ever played in, no doubt,” Graville said.
But Patterson, who chipped in 19 points in the game, made a layup and Graville hit two free throws right after to give the Knights breathing room.
Gilbert Christian ended the season with 18 wins in a row.
Tristen Upton led Alchesay with 21 points.
Valley repeats as champ
PRESCOTT VALLEY — It was the game Sanders Valley girls basketball coach Dorothy Mitchell was waiting for all season.
Her Pirates entered Saturday’s 2A state championship game as the defending champs but only as the fifth seed in this year’s tournament.
However, Valley left no doubt who was the best team in 2A with a dominating 70-39 win over second-seeded Leading Edge Academy.
“They used (the fifth seed) as motivation,” said Mitchell, who has led the school to its only state championships the last two years.
That motivation resulted in first-half dominance that effectively ended the game early. Valley (31-2) was a step quicker than Leading Edge (30-3) on both sides of the ball, and the Spartans never once had the lead.
Right from the opening tip, Leading Edge didn’t have time to know what hit it. Valley freshman forward Nizhoni James made a trio of 3-pointers early in the first quarter to get the Pirates running.
Valley scored the game’s first 10 points and led 22-2 just five-and-a-half minutes into the game.
The Spartans tried to get back into it. Halle Price hit a 3-pointer for Leading Edge at the first quarter buzzer to cut the deficit to 27-7.
But Valley didn’t let up in the second quarter. Valiyah Yazzie scored eight points — including a pair of 3-pointers — in the opening minutes of the quarter to help extend Valley’s lead to 39-7.
“We just had a passion for this game because it was the last game,” said Yazzie, who led all scorers with 24 points. “The seeding didn’t matter.”
Leading Edge was only able to get the deficit down under 30 points one time the rest of the half as Valley took what proved to be an insurmountable 46-14 lead at halftime.
The Spartans were able to make Valley sweat a little bit in the third quarter by holding the Pirates scoreless for the first half of the third quarter, while cutting the deficit to 21 points.
“We knew that (the Spartans) usually come out in the third and fourth quarter and make their 3-pointers,” Mitchell said. “We wanted to run and get as big a lead early as we could.”
Junior forward Prima Chellis led Leading Edge with 13 points.
