Arizona Boys Basketball Playoffs: Mountain View Dominates On Way To 5A Division I State Championship

Mountain View has hung its hat on defensive pressure since the Mesa, Ariz., team began its run in Arizona’s 5A Division I high school basketball tournament, but no one could have expected that they would be able to stifle Brophy Prep, their championship game competition and a team that just scored 96 points in the semifinal game against Mesa on Friday night.

That’s exactly what happened, however, as Mountain View was seventh state championship with a 50-29 victory over Brophy on Saturday night at Jobing.com Arena.

Mountain View (27-3) played smart, didn’t turn the ball over and made high-percentage shots, but their defensive intensity was most important as they held Brophy to just three second quarter points on the way to a 25-13 halftime lead and never looked back.

“It was just old school, going hard all the time,” senior forward Sam Kamp told the Arizona Republic after the game.

According the Republic, Mountain View shot better than 60 percent while holding Brophy to just 20 percent shooting from the field.

Most important to Mountain View’s victory was probably big man Cam Boone as he scored a team-high 12 points to go along with his 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. The only other player in double figures for Mountain View was point guard Mark Mazzucco who registered 11 points and hree steals in the defensive battle.

Brophy Prep (21-9) was attempting to win its first state championship in basketball after last making it to the championship game in 2001, but their poor shooting night prevented that from happening. Forward James Harper gave it a solid effort, however, as he scored eight of the team’s 13 first half points and finished with 11 total.

Fairfax High School is in just its fourth year of existence, but that didn’t hurt its boy’s basketball team as they were able to hold off Chaparral in double overtime to win the Class 5A Division II championship by a score of 65-60.

Chaparral had a chance to win in regulation, but couldn’t convert its free-throws and a short three-point attempt from Zeke Chapman — son of former NBA player Rex Chapman — allowed Fairfax to do just enough to squeak its way to the first championship in school history on Saturday afternoon at Jobing.com Arena.

Fairfax (23-7), playing its first season with seniors, was led by senior Pierre Newton as the 6-foot-5 forward scored 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished eight assists while hitting numerous free-throws to keep Fairfax ahead down the stretch.

Chaparral (20-10) was unable to hit its free-throws down the stretch and missed a couple of open looks at three-pointers in the second overtime to cement its defeat.

Chaparral is located in Scottsdale while Fairfax is located right outside of Phoenix in Laveen, Ariz.

In response to games running long last week, the Arizona Interscholastic Association has changed the start times for four Class 5A title games on Friday at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

The boys finals will be 3 p.m. (5A Division II) and 8 p.m. (5A-I). The girls finals will be 12:30 a.m. (5A-II) and 5:30 (5A-I).

Semifinal schedule:

5A-II (boys)
Wednesday
Chaparral vs. Pinnacle, 6:30 p.m.
Betty Fairfax vs. Desert Mountain, 8 p.m.

5A-II (girls)
Wednesday
Westview vs. Tolleson, 3:30 p.m.
Horizon vs. Pinnacle, 5 p.m.

5A-I (boys)
Thursday
Brophy vs. Mesa, 6:30 p.m.
Mountain View vs. Buena, 8 p.m.

5A-I (girls)
Thursday
Mountain View vs. Chandler, 3:30 p.m.
Xavier vs. St. Mary's, 5 p.m.

The Holbrook boys basketball team hadn’t won a state championship since 1971, and when the team trailed by 15 points with less than seven minutes left in Saturday night’s Arizona Class 3A championship game, it didn’t look like 2011 would be the year the drought ended.

Finishing the game with full-court pressure that led to a 24-3 run, Holbrook defeated a much taller Fountain Hills team 49-43 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

"No one expected us to do this," Koerperich told the Arizona Republic after the game.“I knew we were going to come back.”

Kory Koerperich, a 6-foot-1 guard and three-year starter, scored six points from the free-throw line in the final minute  to hold off Fountain Hills on his way to a team-high 12 points

Other Holbrook players in doubles figures were Torrian Epps with 11 points and Rashaun Baldwin with 10. Jalen Jackson, the team's leading scorer at 16.3 points per game, finished with nine.

Fountain Hills took a 40-25 lead with 6:47 left and seemed in control with its front line of 6-foot-9 Nick Baker, 6-8 Tyler bode and 6-4 Jeffrey Bonner. Holbrook's tallest starter was Jackson, who is 6-3.

Baker was the leading scorer for Fountain Hills (29-6), which had won state titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007. This was Fountain Hills' first final since 2007.

Holbrook (29-5), the No. 1 seed, was playing in its first final since 1991. Fountain Hills was seeded No. 2.

Holbrook is a city in eastern Arizona. Fountain Hills is northeast of Phoenix.

Nogales wasn’t expected to be a factor in the Arizona high school championship picture after being matched up with top-seeded Raymond Kellis in the semifinals, but after defeating Saguaro of Scottsdale 57-44 in the finals Saturday evening, the school has won its first state title since 1983.

"It’s unreal how excited these people are," Nogales coach Ricardo De La Riva told the Arizona Republic. "It’s lifted everybody in the community. Our administrators were so supportive. Lastly, I want to thank God for keeping me here and winning a state championship."

Nogales (25-5), a school south of Tucson on the Mexican border, trailed 22-18 at haltfime but scored the first five points of the second half to take take a 34-32 lead entering the final stanza in the game at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.

Nogales dominated from there as junior guard Joseph Moreal scored 14 of his 20 points to put Saguaro (23-9) away for good. It was Monreal's second straight outing of 13-plus points in crunch time as he scored 13 of his 25 in the fourth quarter in the upset of Raymond Kellis.

Saguaro, which entered the game with a 15-game winning streak after an 8-8 start, was led by senior guard Jack Connors with 18 points.

Both teams were surprise finalists in Arizona's Class 4A Division I. Saguaro's tallest player is 6-5. Nogales' tallest is 6-3. Saguaro beat No. 2 seed Peoria 36-33 in the semifinals while Nogales beat No. 1 Kellis 63-60.

A state runner-up in 2010, Amphitheater of Tucson broke through and won a championship Saturday, beating Tempe 87-77 in Arizona's Class 4A Division II final  at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

"It was worth it. It was a long wait waiting for this day, but it was worth it," Amphitheater head coach Ben Hurley said. "The kids were excited, but I’m glad it’s over and that we have the championship trophy."

Amphitheater was able to hold off the Buffaloes despite a 31-point fourth quarter that made the final score a bit deceiving.

It ended the Cinderella run of seventh-seeded Tempe (22-10). Amphitheater (29-2) was the No. 1 seed.

Junior guard Tim Derksen paced the Panthers with 26 points, 14  in the first half. The 6-foot-3 guard was averaging 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists heading into Saturday’s championship.

While Derksen led the team in scoring, Amphitheater was once again able to get strong contributions from numerous players, a key to Hurley’s gameplan.

"That’s the key to us. That’s been the key to our team the entire year," Hurley said. "We have a lot of talent on the team, but the guys are still willing to put the team first and buy into what we do — substituting a lot, putting defense first and playing uptempo. It was a great team win today."

Other players in double figures for Amphitheater were Tony Lillard, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, who surprised everyone by scoring 16 points in the first half — including four three-pointers. He finished with 19 point. Senior captain Domineik Banks finished with 12 points. Charles Benson, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half.

Tempe was led by Jordan Baker, a 6-foot-3 senior who committed to Pepperdine prior to the season.

Baker missed the final two months of last season due to a broken wrist, but the guard again showed he’s fully recovered as he scored 36 points.

Tempe had not been in the state playoffs since 2001 or a state final since 1990 and was seeking its first-ever state title.

Amphitheater lost in the 2010 final to Santa Rita 86-84.

The Orme School, typically known as one of the top academic schools in the United States, might have competition from its athletic department after Saturday’s 68-56 championship game victory over Gilbert Christian High School.

Despite the fact that Orme beat Gilbert Christian, the defending 1A champions, their coach doesn’t think that his team will be defending their title next season.

“I think this is probably like a one-shot deal,” Todd Roe told the Republic. “I said before, ‘the stars kind of lined up for us.’ We’ve always had a big international population at the school. We just happened to get kids this year that were experienced basketball players.”

Orme was led by Metehan Akcam, a guard from Turkey, as he scored 25 points along with four three-pointers. Akcam is part of a starting lineup that doesn’t include any American players, a point of argument around Arizona when debating the merits of Orme competing in Arizona High School activities and a subject the Arizona Republic’s Richard Obert recently opined upon.

Orme also got 21 points from guard Theo Turner, who had four 3-pointers and scored 13 points in the first half and benefited from the inside presence of 6-foot-8 junior Michel Nzege of Switzerland according to the game recap in the Republic.