6A State Tournament: 2nd Round
The 6A State tournament continues tonight at the high seeds location. All games are set to tip-off at 6:30. The elite 8 has officially been reached with the following teams competing to move on to the 6A Final Four: Perry vs. Brophy, Chandler vs. Mountain Pointe, Red Mountain vs. Desert Vista, and Gilbert vs. Pinnacle
6A State Tournament: 2nd Round
#9 Perry vs. #1 Brophy
Perry’s task is far from easy or simple as they take on #1 Brophy. Brophy drains opposing teams due to their execution for 32 minutes. Perry is talented and will make this competitive. Further, they are extremely well coached as well. However, they will need to put together a strong performance in order to move on to the next round. Everything starts with Perry guard Jalen Williams. Williams will be responsible for running the show and getting his teammates the basketball. His ability to dictate tempo will be crucial to this team’s success.
Brophy has been one of the most fun teams to follow this year due to their disciplined style of play. They play as a team and put each other in spots where they can be successful. Further, they do a great job of mitigating errors and playing mistake free basketball. This team might be the most unappreciated #1 seed because no one expected them to be in this spot. While we all knew that Jaxson Baker and Ian Burke would be solid prospects who were NCAA Division-I caliber players, few saw this group as a legitimate challenger with Desert Vista and Pinnacle. However, that is far from the case at this point. Perry will have their hands full this evening.
#13 Chandler vs. #5 Mountain Pointe
Chandler has managed to find a way to win close games in the state tournament. While they were in a number of close games in the regular season, they were unable to find a way to win them. However, they appear to be over that hurdle. With that said, Chandler will have an extremely tough time keeping pace with Mountain Pointe in this game. Mike Anderson and Jacquez Barrow will need to play huge minutes tonight in order for Chandler to pull off this upset and continue in the tournament.
Mountain Pointe has too much talent to not move forward in this one. In fact, they are a legitimate contender to upset Brophy in the
Amarion Cash and Khalid Price Mountain Pointefinal four. It will be interesting to see how Chandler tries to guard this team. Khalid Price makes this team go due to his tough on ball defense and ability to create for himself as well as others. While Jalen Graham is a monster in and of himself, Price makes him more efficient by putting him in spots where he can be successful. Further, Amarion Cash provides this group with another athletic guard who is capable of scoring the basketball at a high level.
Prediction: Mountain Pointe takes this one by double digits.
#6 Red Mountain vs. #3 Desert Vista
Red Mountain arguably has the two best players in this game in Timmy Allen and Dre Harris. However, the depth and guard play favors Desert Vista. Allen will most likely have Wesley Harris lined up next to him while Harris will have Christian Anigwe. These match-ups will be extremely fun to watch and absolutely critical to the success of each team.
As far as Desert Vista is concerned, Tyrek Chambers is the game changer. He is a score first point guard that Red Mountain will have to find an answer for. Chambers will be the X-Factor that aids Desert Vista in moving forward.
Prediction: Desert Vista will be challenged by Allen and Harris, but they will be able to prevail in a close contest.
#10 Gilbert vs. #2 Pinnacle
While GIlbert is a clear underdog, they will do all that they can to make this a dog fight. They are well coached and shoot the basketball extremely well from the perimeter. Further, they execute their offense extremely well and make great reads. Gilbert will be fighting an uphill battle to win this game. However, they will be aided greatly in this battle by Trajon Hawkins and Doc Self.
Gilbert played Pinnacle tough earlier in the year as Pinnacle won by 8. However, Pinnacle was without knockdown shooter Trent Brown. Brown adds another scorer and dynamic to this team. His production mixed with Spencer Rattler and Nico Mannion will be the deciding factor in the game tonight. Further, the frontcourt and wings for Pinnacle give them too much depth and length that Gilbert will struggle with.
Prediction: Gilbert will keep it close in the first half. However, they will be overwhelmed due to Pinnacle’s depth.