3 takeaways from No. 2 Basha's gritty overtime win at No. 5 Boulder Creek basketball

Chandler Basha took Anthem Boulder Creek's best shot and prevailed 70-61 in overtime Tuesday night in a battle of two of The Arizona Republic's top five ranked high school boys basketball teams.

The No. 2-ranked Bears (19-0) trailed much of the first half before taking over the game in the third quarter. But No. 5 Boulder Creek continued to persevere and erased an eight-point deficit, despite not having star point guard Rowan McKenzie, who was out with an injury.

These two teams could very well see each other again deep in the playoffs, perhaps in the Arizona Interscholastic Association's first season of the Open Division.

Here are three takeaways from the game that brought out a big crowd to Boulder Creek:

Basha's poise

Basha has had close calls twice in the past 10 days, beating Desert Mountain 82-81 on a buzzer-beating dunk by freshman Elijah Summers-Livingston in the semifinals of the McClintock Shootout. The young guys came through in the clutch again.

After Dylan Spilde scored on a driving jumper with 30 seconds left to give Boulder Creek (12-4) a 59-57 lead with 30 seconds left, Izaih Johnson sank both ends of a one-and-one with 10 seconds left to tie it. Basha forced a turnover and freshman Mason Magee missed a jumper at the buzzer.

In overtime, Magee, who had 18 points, hit a 3-pointer with 2:28 left, sparking an 11-2 run to close out the game.

"We made some late-game adjustments," Magee said. "We knocked down our free throws. That was a big part of everything."

Basha made six of eight free throws in OT.

"That's what big-time guards step up and do," Basha coach Mike Grothaus said of Johnson and Magee.

Boulder Creek will build off of this

Boulder Creek, with one of the best young coaches in the state in Justin Collard, will use this as a teaching tool and only get better. It knows it can play with anybody. After top-ranked Perry's 65-63 loss Tuesday night to Pinnacle, a game in which Pinnacle guard Bryce Ford poured in 38 points, now this state is wide open. It's no longer Perry and everybody else.

Boulder Creek, Basha, even Pinnacle, it's anybody for the Open gold ball.

Sophomore Bhesania Andrew, who is 6-8 and handles the ball like a point guard, is emerging as one of the state's best players. He had 16 points before fouling out with 46 seconds left in OT.

Credit Torin Bosch and Summers-Livingston for their defense on Andrew in the OT period.

"They were on him and shut him down," Grothaus said. "Our wings are up to the task every night."

Closing out games

Basha was winning early in the season by an average margin of 28 points. Now it is winning the close games. That shows the maturity and toughness of a group that starts two freshmen and two juniors.

"Gritty team," Grothaus said. "We've been tested a couple of times in the past week. Boulder Creek does a great job.

"Great gritty group that finds ways to win. High school basketball at this level is not easy to win against top-level team and top-level coaches."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 3 takeaways from No. 2 Basha's gritty overtime win at Boulder Creek