3A State Tournament: Semifinal Preview
With the 3A state tournament semifinals getting underway soon, here are our predictions for the games. These games will be played at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
3A State Tournament: Semifinal Preview
#4 Valley Christian vs. #1 Blue Ridge
The match-up between Blue Ridge and Winslow for the 3A state championship has looked imminent for quite some time. However, Blue Ridge does not have an easy task when it comes to beating Valley Christian.
Valley Christian is extremely long and has a talented guard in Jalen Grijalva who distributes the ball extremely well and gets the big fellas involved. Grijalva will need Evan Olson and Connor Braun to play huge minutes and use their length to win the rebounding battle as well as the battle in the paint.
Blue Ridge might be undersized in comparison to Valley Christian. However, they do not lack scoring power whatsoever. They have multiple guys who are capable of taking over a game at a moments notice.
Further, Blue Ridge is tough due to how many 3s they take as well. Almost 40% of their shots on the year are from 3 and they shoot it at a high percentage. When they get going, they are extremely tough to beat. Keep an eye on Mason Berges, Darrien Burnette, and Corey Endfield.
Prediction: Blue Ridge will win this one by double figures and move on to the state championship.
#6 Chinle vs. #2 Winslow
Chinle has started slow in their state tournament games. However, trailing in those games has put Cooper Burbank in survivor mood. Burbank rallied the troops against American Leadership Academy as he dropped 27 points to help Chinle move on.
While trailing seems to bring out the best in Burbank, they cannot afford to start slow against Winslow. Winslow is one of the best teams in 3A. Further, they are more than capable of pouring it on and burring teams.
Winslow is led by Ricardo Villanueva and Darius James. This group is battled tested and skilled with a plethora of scoring weapons. Not only did this team make a deep run last year, but they also have beaten the #1 seed in this tournament.
This game will be packed at the arena and will be full of intensity. It will take a lot of composure and focus for both teams to get the job done. Further, when the momentum changes happen, they will need to respond to adversity in the right manner.
With this in mind, the edge to this game has to go to Winslow. They have demonstrated time and time again that they are ready for these types of games.
Prediction: This will be a dog fight that goes back and forth. However, Winslow will take control late and win.