Beky Beaton, reporter from the Daily Herald (Provo, Utah) accompanying the Lone Peak Knights at the Arizona Basketball Challenge
12/27/08
Day 2
With a full day to work with, I was able to complete my day’s newspaper assignments in time to catch the second session of the ABC. I had planned to watch some other teams while I was here anyway, since I’m a basketball junkie. I arrived about 3:30 and ate a pretty fair cheeseburger after chatting with the delightful lady running the concession stand.The 4 p.m. game featured Estrella Foothills and Sagemont, the team from Florida. The Lions did not bring their two tall post players and they are very young, with just two seniors on the squad.
My initial impression after the first few minutes is that I’m watching two solid teams which are well coached but are not great, yet. The players seem to know what they should do, but the execution doesn’t always match their understanding.
The Arizona team is ahead much of the first period, but Sagemont takes the lead after a dunk followed by a steal and a breakaway layup by Matt Johnson. The advantage trades places twice more before Estrella’s Corey Hawkins lets go a long, off-balance trey at the buzzer that goes in and gives his team a 33-28 lead at the break.
It’s all Wolves in the second half, however. Two technical fouls on the Florida bench lead to an assistant coach being ejected at the 10:44 mark, when the deficit is already in double digits. The Lions show a little life in the last three minutes of the game, but it’s too little, too late. Estrella wins 68-58.I learn by looking in the program that Estrella is a 3A school. They would compete well at that level in Utah.
The 5:30 contest features a pair of local schools, Pinnacle of Phoenix and top-ranked Highland from Gilbert. It takes only a few minutes to see that these teams are bigger and faster than the previous two. Both teams have some terrific athletes, and the gym is getting pretty full.
The first player to make an impression on me is Pinnacle’s post man, Jordan James. He shows some nice moves in the paint early and helps the Pioneers hang in with the Hawks for half the first period. Highland starts to build some separation after that, and leads by 15 at the break.
As the game goes on, the player that captures my attention the most is KC Toolson, who isn’t even mentioned in the program write-up on his team. Toolson is a big basketball name in Utah, and I wondered if he’s related. I never found out, but his game stood out. He ended up as the top scorer in the contest, but it was his floor game that recommended him to me. He’s a tough rebounder, never hesitated to give the ball up when a teammate was in a better position, and he was a beast on defense. He could play successfully anywhere.
The Hawks ran away with the game in the second half, literally. The team has good balance and plays at a very fast pace. They are fundamentally sound and obviously very well coached. The lead mushrooms to the 30-point range before the subs come in, and Highland wins it 94-61.
The marquee game at 7 p.m. was everything that tournament organizers hoped for. Played in front of a full house with a state-tournament type atmosphere, the contest was close the entire way until the final 30 seconds, when the Toros pulled away on free throws to win 60-51. Fans certainly got their money’s worth in this one.
Mountain View’s Eric Hunt was just terrific on both ends of the floor, not only scoring in a variety of ways (he was 8-for-10 in field goals and 6-of-7 at the line), but also with his defensive presence in the paint.
Lone Peak’s Tyler Haws was the leading scorer with 24 points and showed why he’s ranked so highly nationally, but he didn’t get enough help from his teammates to prevail against a great team like the Toros on their home floor.
Coach Gary Ernst got good production from his role players and his boys defended Lone Peak about as well as anyone I’ve seen. This is only the fifth loss for the Knights in the past three years, so it’s a victory the home team can take some satisfaction in.