Highland Prep, Pima reach 2A boys basketball championship game
In only its second year in the Arizona Interscholastic Association, Surprise Highland Prep has made it to the 2A boys basketball championship game.
The No. 8 Honey Badgers (23-6) will take on No. 2 Pima on Saturday at 2 p.m., for the state title at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliesum, after beating No. 4 Phoenix Christian 60-45 on Friday afternoon at the Coliseum.
"It feels great," Highland Prep coach Trent Hill said. "A lot of hard work was put in the offseason to get to where we're at."
It took a monster game from 6-foot-4 junior Presley Ibeh on offense and tough shadowing defense by Jahshua Cheeks on explosive Tommy Randolph for the Honey Baders to get to the final.
Ibeh had 22 points in the first three quarters, helping the Badgers to a 15-point lead. Cheeks gave up a few inches on the 6-2 Randolph, but he followed him everywhere in a box-and-one defense, limiting Randolph's touches.
Randolph averages about 25 points but he was held to 14 points, only four in the second half. He sat out the last four minutes of the third quarter and the first minute of the ifnal quarter after picking up his fourth foul on a charge. He fouled out with 1:15 to play.
"We were just trying to contain him," Cheeks said. "He's a good player. We tried to play off because he doesn't shoot it well. He lives off of getting it to the rim. That's what he does. We played a good overall game. It was hard to defend him. But in the end, we got it."
Ibeh said he recalled the tears in the locker room last year when the season ended against Phoenix Christian in a 63-57 loss in the playoffs. He didn't want that to happen again.
"It was a revenge score," Ibeh said. "We had to come in and handle business. We were fired up.
"I remembered what happend to me last year. I came into the locker room crying. I came back."
Pima 53, Arizona Lutheran 41
Pima (25-3) is in the state championship game for the first time since 2005, using its length and defense to hold off the Coyotes.
Grant Ashby, a 6-foot-5 senior point guard, showed why he's regarded one of the state's top player at any classification with his ability to knock down shots, his speed and quickness and agility and the way he hounds guards and create turnovers,
He finished with 20 points and was a maestro setting up teammates for open shots.
Ashby and his twin brother Pierce, who is 6-7, were wide receivers on Pima's 2A state championship football team in the fall.
If Pierce Ashby doesn't get a college basketball scholarship to play somewhere, Pima basketball coach Cliff Thompson believes he can play college football as a wide receiver.
"Our size and our defense," Pierce Ashby said, is what separates this team from most in 2A. "We play really good defense."
Thompson features the biggest team in 2A with 6-6 Seth Russell and 6-4 Garrett Curtis strong contributors in the front court.
"We've got eight seniors," Thompson said. "They won the football championship. Eleven of our guys played on that team. There is a camaraderie on this team and they've got each other's back. They've been really close for a lot of years. This is the first time into the championship game in the last 10 years.
"I feel like we've got a lot of determination. That's kind of what did it for us today."
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Highland Prep, Pima reach 2A boys basketball championship game
