No. 1 Perry moves into Open boys basketball semifinals to play No. 13 Desert Mountain
It took a half before No. 1 Gilbert Perry reasserted itself behind the two-man game of Cody Williams and Koa Peat.
But when Ben Egbo started knocking down shots, it was over quickly for No. 8 Peoria Liberty before an overflow crowd Saturday night at Perry.
Perry moves onto next Friday's Open Division boys basketball state semifinals, after a 79-60 victory, at a site to be determined.
The team they'll face is more of a surprise.
No. 13-seed Scottsdale Desert Mountain, the only 5A school left, behind the freshman House brothers (Kaden and Kalek), dominated No. 5 Glendale Ironwood from the opening tip and rolled to an 81-61 rout to pit a 1 versus 13 in the semifinals in the first year of the Arizona Interscholastic Association's 32-team Open Division tournament.
"At this point, in the final four, every team has a chance," said Williams, who said he missed a few practices to try to recover from a slight groin strain.
Here are three takeaways from Perry's dominant second half that showed why it's going to take the most brilliant effort of an incredibler freshman season for Kaden House to pull of the upset of the season in the semis:
Peat's big third quarter
After Ky Green converted a three-point play late in the first half, Liberty took a 34-33 lead into the locker room. But if it's not 6-foot-8 Williams, it's 6-8 Peat who is so tough to stop. And when Peat misses, he's right there to follow in his shots.
Williams, nursing the groin, was exceptional in the two-man game, setting up Peat for easy baskets inside in the third quarter when Peat scored 14 of his 32 points. Williams had 16 points, 14 in the first three quarter. Then, there was Egbo to deal with. Egbo's tough defense sometimes led to transition baskets. He stopped one Liberty possession with a steal, then scored on the other end in Perry's 24-10 third quarter. Egbo had 17 points, seven in the final quarter.
"It's like pick your poison," Liberty coach Mark Wood said.
Egbo was just taking what was given, including three 3-pointers.
"My teammates recognized how they were guarding them," Egbo said. "They told me to knock down shots. They trusted me."
Keeping team-first attitude
What is great about Peat and Williams is that as greatly skilled both are, they never force the action. They trust all of their teammates, giving up the ball to someone open. But when they know they need to take over, they do so in such a seamless way that it looks so easy how they're able to dissect defenses.
Eventually, as well as Caden Hunter, Green, 6-8 Ring Nyeri and Nick Zambito, you just knew it was a matter of time when Perry would wear on them.
"We weren't surprised by anything they ran," Peat said. "Being locked in as a team, team first, we trusted each other and that's how we were able to win."
Looking at the semifinals
Perry coach Sam Duane Jr., was surprised to hear that Desert Mountain beat Ironwood by 20, considering Ironwood gave Perry (28-1) one of its toughest games this season in the Visit Mesa Basketball Challenge at Mountain View, before hanging on for a 54-50 win.
The House brothers totally transformed Desert Mountain (25-4) overnight. Most experts knew the Wolves were an Open team this year, but some wondered if two freshmen could put them on their backs and carry them this far. But try guarding those two 6-foot-3 guards. Kaden House's scoring prowess has been crazy good. Kaden House dropped 40 points on Ironwood, which had become one of the best defensive teams in the state late in the season.
"We'll have to get to work," Duane said.
The other Open semifinal game will comprise of two double-digit seeds. No. 10 Phoenix Sunnyslope defeated No. 18 St. Mary's 63-62 and No. 11 Chandler Basha eliminated No. 14 Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep 68-60. Sunnyslope, which won the 6A title two years ago, will host that semifinal next Friday night.
Freshman point guard Mason Magee led Basha with 24 points. Senior Torin Bosch had 14 points and seven rebounds, Sam Zanoni had 13 points and nine boards and freshman forward Elijah Summers-Livingston added seven points and nine rebounds for Basha.
This is the second straight season St. Mary's saw its season end in heart break in the final second. Last year, the Knights lost in the 4A semifinals to Mesquite on a Nate Calmese halfcourt shot at the buzzer.
St. Mary's had a chance to send the the game into a second overtime. A technical was called on Jai Anthoni Beardon after he was fouled by freshman John Fahrendorf with a second left in OT, after the Knights' Caspian Jones missed a shot in the paint. Because the technical fouleld him out, Beardon couldn't shoot the free throws.
Coach Ray Portela had to substitute a player in to shoot for Beardon. He brought in Beau Hartman, who made 1 of 2 free throws for a 63-61 lead. Styles Phipps, who had 30 points, went to the line for St. Mary's to shoot the two technical free throws.
Phipps air balled the first free throw, then made the second to make it 63-62. St. Mary's couldn't score off the inbounds pass and the Vikings (24-5) celebrated on their home floor before and overflow crowd.
Freshman John Mattlingly led Sunnyslope with 18 points.
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Perry rolls into Open state boys basketball semifinals
