PHOENIX – It’s not going to be very far into the future when foes are going to have to dread playing the Phoenix Shadow Mountain team.
With an all-sophomore starting lineup, the Matadors took their 6-0 record and boundless promise and enthusiasm into the Grand Canyon University Pavilion Saturday night.
And they made things extremely difficult for the four seniors and state’s best junior that the 5-0 Tempe Corona del Sol Aztecs put on the floor for the tip-off in the final game of the two-day inaugural Hoophall West.
But the cool and calm that University of Oregon-bound point guard Casey Benson provides helped the relatively older squad prevail, 84-75, for the championship of the event’s “Arizona Invitational”.
It was the last of the four games played between the eight Arizona participants in the Hoophall, with the matchups determined by the first and second rounds of the Invitational that were played a couple of weeks ago.
The other four games in the event involved squads from Southern California (Santa Ana Mater Dei and Orange Lutheran), Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) and Houston (Yates), as well as prep school powerhouse Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy.
In the last of those, played just prior to the Shadow Mountain-Coronal del Sol tilt, Oak Hill overcame an eight-point deficit in the second half and went on to knock off Bishop Gorman, 60-54.
The left-handed Benson (with 15 points, to go with six assists in 31 minutes) was one of five starts to score from 13 to a team-high 17 points – the latter by that junior, forward Dane Kuiper – in the win against the oh-so-resilient Matadors.
The Aztecs took a 14-point advantage into the fourth quarter but could never truly put the figurative foot down on the Matadors, led by the dazzling duo of Michael Bibby Jr. (24 points, 15 of those from behind the arc, and three assists) and Carlos Johnson (23 points).
Bibby’s two free throws got his team within 76-71 with 49 seconds remaining but that was as close as they were able to get against a squad that took advantage of the no-shot clock setting in Arizona to shorten the game down the stretch.
The 6-foot-6 Kuiper (a move-in from Alaska who committed to the University of New Mexico in July) hit three of five attempts from behind the arc to go with seven rebounds and three assists.
Six-nine Connor MacDougall (Arizona State) took full advantage of his nearly five-inch advantage over the tallest opponent to go for 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Gaels led early in the third quarter, 31-23, before the Warriors – led by North Carolina State-bound Caleb Martin and junior point guard Terrence Phillips – closed the period on an 18-4 run.
Gorman was never closer than within four points the rest of the way.
Martin, who was as good as any player during the two days, had 20 points, four rebounds, four steals and a couple of assists while Phillips, the brother of the Detroit Pistons’ Brandon Jennings, scored nine of his 11 points in the final quarter.
Junior forward Trevor Manuel added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
For the third consecutive game senior guard Noah Robotham (23 points and four assists) was Gorman’s leading scorer.
Oak Hill’s size, quickness and determination up front served to hold the Gorman 1-2 junior post punch of Stephen Zimmerman (seven points, 10 rebounds and three assists) and Chase Jeter (six points and a single rebound) in check.
In the other two games played Saturday:
*Mater Dei 100, Yates 57: University of Arizona bound-Stanley Johnson scored 21 points with 12 rebounds and eight assists to help the Monarchs coast to their fifth victory in as many games.
Sophomore center Michael Cage Jr. had 22 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots while junior guard La’Vette Parker – who hit four of shots from behind the arc – chipped in with 21 as Coach Gary McKnight’s starters scored all but 15 points.
Forward J.C. Washington (who signed with the University of Houston in November) scored 25 points for Yates despite missing 16 of his 27 shots. He also snatched 12 rebounds (seven of on the offensive end).
The Monarchs figure to be much more severely tested when they go to Las Vegas to participate in the second annual Tarkanian Classic at Bishop Gorman, which begins Wednesday night.
*Gilbert 56, Scottsdale Chaparral 41: In the third-place game of the Arizona division of the event, 6-9, 230-pound junior Thurman Moore had 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots to pace the winners.
Senior guard Anthony Bryant added 12 points. No one scored more than eight points for Firebirds, who hit just 16 of 46 shots from the floor (.348).
