Nobody on Grand Canyon University’s men’s basketball roster is thinking about the move to NCAA Division I next season.
Not with the Pacific West Tournament ahead and the Antelopes feeling they need to win at least one game to get into the Division II tournament.
Jared Perry came to Rattlers camp, saw the impressive group of receivers and wondered where he would fit in.
“I don’t know what the coaches are going to do,” he said. “They’ve got some big decisions to make. I’ve got to do what I’m doing, keep making plays, so that I’ll be around.”
Half of last year’s ArenaBowl championship team is not on the Rattlers’ training camp roster.
But 34 players started camp in Mesa on Sunday to begin preparations for the March 23 opener at home against Philadelphia, with coach and General Manager Kevin Guy calling this “hands down, the most competitive camp I’m going into since I’ve been with the Rattlers.”
For much of January, Phoenix Paradise Valley’s boys basketball team struggled, losing three of five games and figuring out where to go.
It ended up with pieces of net Saturday, after capturing the Division II championship with everybody all in on defense and staving off a second-half Tucson Salpointe Catholic threat for a 45-39 victory at Jobing.com Arena.
There was no more celebrating than usual after Phoenix Pinnacle’s 69-59 victory over second-seed Laveen Cesar Chavez on Thursday at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena.
But this was different, this got it over that boys basketball semifinal hump for the first time in school history.
Avondale Agua Fria point guard Isaiah Lopez was getting ready to leave the gym for Jobing.com Arena on Wednesday when he noticed something missing. His bag. It had his jersey No. 1 in it.
“A lot of kids were waiting to take the fan bug and our bags were together,” Lopez said. “Someone happened to take mine.
Top-seed Phoenix Sunnyslope got off to a big start, slowed down in the second half, and finally put the clamps down late to hold off Tucson Sahuaro and advance to the Division II boys basketball semifinals with a 59-50 victory Wednesday night at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.
Sunnyslope (28-3) advances to play Paradise Valley on Thursday night at 7:45 for the fourth time this season. Sunnyslope has won the past two meetings.
Mesa, knowing the scouting report, sagged off a little on Scottsdale Desert Mountain point guard Rolando Rhymes.
Rhymes made Mesa pay with a couple of outside shots, including a 3-pointer. Then, when Mesa came out harder on him, he made Mesa pay inside, especially after 6-foot-10 Isaac Allen went to the Mesa bench midway through the second quarter.
No.8-seed Goodyear Millennium had top-seed Tempe Corona del Sol reeling much of the game with scrappy play in the paint.
But, in the end, with the game on the line, Corona del Sol made enough plays and free throws to pull out a hard-fought 47-46 Division I boys basketball quarterfinal victory Tuesday night at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena.
With forward Pablo Rivas held mostly in check, Laveen Cesar Chavez turned to a strong supporting cast to keep from being another upset victim against surging Glendale Mountain Ridge.
Guards Tyler Bell and Will Holt combined for 23 points and second-seed Cesar Chavez held No. 23-seed Mountain Ridge to just five fourth-quarter points in a 56-52 Division I boys basketball quarterfinal win Tuesday at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena.
Senior guard Drew Bender, his left ankle in a walking boot Saturday, got medical clearance from Phoenix Pinnacle’s athletic trainer on Tuesday.
Bender got the ball to open teammates and knocked down four free throws in the final 34 seconds to help keep Phoenix Pinnacle’s season alive with a 50-45 victory over resilient Gilbert in a Division I boys basketball quarterfinal at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena.
PRESCOTT VALLEY — Fourth-seeded Snowflake shredded Fountain Hills’ press and gave a fast-break clinic on its way to a 71-55 victory Monday morning at Tim’s Toyota Center, advancing to the Division III boys basketball semifinals.
Snowflake (26-7) plays at 8 p.m. Friday at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale for the right to play in Saturday’s state championship game.
PRESCOTT VALLEY – No. 3-seed Scottsdale Christian Academy got what coach Bob Fredericks described as a “herculean” defensive effort in the final six minutes and advanced to the Division III boys basketball semifinals with a 50-39 victory over sixth-seed Goodyear Estrella Foothills on Monday at Tim’s Toyota Center.
After coach Rich Gutwein retooled his offense late in the season, moving 6-foot-4 senior Devon Hawkins from the wing to the point, Estrella Foothills won seven in a row and beat Scottsdale Christian by 14 points in the sectional tournament.
Casey Benson, Tempe Corona del Sol, G: The 6-foot-3 junior had 28 points, leading the top seed to a 665 double overtime playoff victory over Phoenix Mountain Pointe. Benson made a 3-pointer to send the game into OT and converted a three-point play to send it into a second OT.
Khari Holloway, Mountain Pointe, G: He had 30 points in the double overtime loss to Corona del Sol that ended Mountain Pointe’s season. His 3-point tries at the end of regulation and two OT periods went in and out.
CHINLE — Just outside the entry tunnel of the Chinle High School gym, little Navajo boys and girls line up and stick out their hands, hoping for high-fives from their idols from Window Rock High School.
Then the Window Rock Scouts burst onto the floor for the start of the boys basketball sectional championship game against Snowflake, one step away from the state tournament.
Winslow had to win three games in three days to make the long trip to Chandler Valley Christian as the 24th and final seed in the Division III boys basketball tournament.
Tuesday night, it needed longer bodies.
It was early December, and with basketball season heating up, Mesa High sixth man Felipe Velazco was having a difficult time leaving his house.
A 17-year-old kid used to having his hair cut once a week started finding bald patches all over his scalp.
A banged-up Trey Ingram showed hops at the end with a dunk.
Time had already run out and it didn’t count, but top-ranked Phoenix Pinnacle escaping tough Mesa 76-73 in the sectional semifinal Friday night at Scottsdale Chaparral gave the diminutive guard an extra bounce.
Tempe Marcos de Niza defensive back Priest Willis arrived decked out in UCLA blue.
Phoenix Brophy Prep quarterback Tyler Bruggman came holding a Washington State hat and feeling under the weather and pulled once again between two schools.
The voice at the other end was desperate.
Antonio Zepeda got in trouble with the law. He had just been released from a juvenile detention center. He said he was kicked out of his group home. He had no place to go.
Florence athlete Nick Brown has not qualified yet, and he won’t be signing with ASU, Gophers coach Stephen McKane said.
Brown committed to ASU last summer.
It’s been all over the message boards and recruiting sites today:
Tempe Marcos de Niza defensive back Priest Willis won’t be signing his national football letter of intent with UCLA on Wednesday, the first day high school seniors can sign.
