GLENDALE, AZ – The west’s best boys high school basketball program of the past two seasons – and the team that will likely have the best chance of challenging it in 2022-23 – will hook up Sunday morning on one of 12 courts laid out on the floor of the State Farm Stadium in the third Fiesta Bowl Section Seven.
Championship games are scheduled in 14 divisions made up of 16 teams apiece from the west and a few beyond.
The title match of the most notable of those, the Fiesta Bowl, is set to tip at 11:30 (on “Court 4”) and will pit California State Open Division champion Corona Centennial (33-1 last season) and the squad it beat in the Feb 25, CIF Southern Section Open final, Harvard-Westlake (25-4).
Coach Josh Giles’ Centennial Huskies – who’ve captured back-to-back CIF SS Open crowns (the COVID pandemic canceled the 2020 and ’21 state finals in Sacramento – swept a “triple-header” Saturday against what should be three terrific teams in 2022-23.
The Huskies, led by the Southern Section Open co-Player of the Year in Duke-bound Jared McCain and all-Southern Section “bigs” Aaron McBride and Devin Williams, face American Fork (the Utah State champion last spring), Stake Jesuit of Houston and Coronado (Henderson in Nevada), in games that tipped at approximately 8 a.m. and 2 and 7 p.m., respectively.
And, while also getting superb efforts from B.J. Taylor and Eric Freeny (the guys starting in the positions vacated with the graduation of Donovan Dent and Ramsey Huff), the Huskies rolled into Sunday’s final by an average margin of 18.7 points.
Coach David Rebibo’s Wolverines’ path to their “rematch”, of sorts, with the Huskies was considerably more arduous.
They needed a layup by junior-to-be Robert Hinton with less than three seconds to go to beat Las Vegas Durango Friday night (62-60); a turn-around, heavily contested jump shot from near the right baseline at the buzzer from senior-to-be Brady Dunlap Saturday afternoon to edge Phoenix Mountain Pointe (68-66); while Dunlap – wobbling from two sprained ankles – hit the go-ahead bucket with 27 seconds to go in what ended up a 55-52 stunner against Florida’s best team, Miami Columbus, Saturday night.
Facing a team led by class of 2025 standouts Cameron and Cayden Boozer (the twin sons of former NBA forward Carlos Boozer), the Wolverines trailed by 12 points and intermission and seven late in the contest.
But they closed out the stunner with consecutive 3s by Dunlap and c/o 2025 standout Nik Khamenia (pictured/his defense on the taller of the twins, 6-8 Cameron, was a major element to the second-half turnaround), Dunlap’s go-ahead jumper and two free throws by junior-to-be guard Trent Perry with 15 13 seconds to go to game the 10-0, closing run.
In some of the other Sunday title games, it will be:
*Sherman Oaks (CA) Notre Dame (led by Gonzaga-bound Dusty Stromer and a Mission League member with Harvard-Westlake) facing long-time power Las Vegas Bishop Gorman (9:10 a.m., Mayo Clinic Bracket);
*Yet another Mission member, L.A. Loyola, takes on Moreno Valley (CA) Rancho Verde at 11:30 (Court 9) in the Powerade Bracket;
*Anaheim Canyon plays one of Utah’s best teams, Pleasant Grove, for the ServRx Juneteenth final (10:20 a.m., Court 4);
*Downey (CA) St. Pius X/St. Matthias plays Peoria of Arizona for the Visual Graphex Bracket crown (10:20 a.m., Court 9);
*And, at 12:40, Carmichael (CA) Jesuit takes on another NorCal power, Concord De La Salle, in the City of Glendale Bracket final at 12:40 p.m. (Court 4).
Leave a Reply