Jed Dunn. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

It took an overtime, or two, but Deer Valley finally broke through to claim a state championship after the No. 3-seeded Skyhawks held off No. 4 Sahuaro 63-61 in overtime Thursday night to win the 4A state championship in the program’s fifth attempt dating back to a runner-up finish in 2006 under former head coach John Fellens. Current head coach Jed Dunn took over in 2009 and Dunn led the program to championship appearances in 2018, 2019 and 2023 before winning it all this year.

With the game tied 53-53 in overtime, Travis Vasquez hit a 3-pointer with 2:56 left in the extra period and the Skyhawks held on the rest of the way despite the play of Sahuaro senior Nick Ponds, who scored six of his game-high 14 points in overtime. Ponds cut the Skyhawk lead down to 61-59 with 10.9 seconds left but Simon Gonzales sealed the victory with two free throws one second later. Cisco Llamas also scored 24 points and his final points came on a bucket with two seconds left for the 63-61 final.

Sahuaro started out hot, building a 22-15 lead with 50.1 seconds left in the first quarter but the Skyhawks battled back to cut the lead down to 26-25 with 6:03 left in the half, only to have the Cougars take a 33-25 lead with 3:38 left. With the Cougars threatening to end things early, the Skyhawks went on a 10-0 run to take a 35-33 lead at the half. The Cougars missed five 3-point attempts to help fuel the comeback and it was a sign of what was to come.

“We didn’t shoot well at all and were still able to win the state championship,” Dunn explained. “That’s a credit to the team and we never stopped working. We’ve played from behind a lot of games this year and they never stop.”

Llamas hit a couple of deep shots in the third to put the Cougars back up 42-37 but the Skyhawks went on a 13-3 run over the last 4:55 of the third quarter and Deer Valley led 50-45 moments into the fourth.

This time, the Cougars bounced back to erase a 52-46 deficit to force overtime with Llamas connecting on another 3 to cut the lead down to 52-51 with 40.1 seconds left in regulation and AJ Ajawin made a free throw to make it 53-51 with 20.1 seconds left but Ponds tied the game with 2.1 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

Deer Valley and Sahuaro qualified for the Open Division but he Cougars lost to the Skyhawks in overtime (69-66) to send the team back to the 4A state playoffs and then Deer Valley lost to top-seeded Perry 78-49 in the second round to punch their ticket back to the 4A playoffs. The top seed in the 4A Conference, St. Mary’s, lost to Notre Dame in the quarterfinal of the Open Bracket, which prevented them from reentering the 4A bracket, ALA-Gilbert North and Mesquite were also sent back to the 4A bracket but Sahuaro knocked No. 1 ALA-Gilbert North out in the semifinal round by a score of 55-51 and Deer Valley took care of No. 2 Mesquite in the other semifinal 51-48.

Vasquez and Tyler Wenk led the Skyhawks with 13 points each and Ajawin had 10. Llamas and Pond had 14 points each for Sahuaro and Jamal Ali added 11.

Sahuaro has four state championships, all under legendary head coach Dick McConnell, and current head coach Jim Henry was a student at Sahuaro during McConnell’s run and he brings the same toughness McConnell brought. There’s also the aspect of being the first public “big school” from Tucson to make a championship final in over a decade. He carried a town on his shoulders at times.

For Dunn, the forth time was a charm but it wasn’t easy. He loses six seniors to graduation but the one-time Ohio coach of the year, who once played a pick-up game against a young Lebron James, is most likely used to difficult tasks.

 “It’s never been about me,” Dunn added. “I feel like they earned it. Sahuaro really made us earn it. They’re really good.”

(Andy Morales/AZPreps365)