Corona del Sol displayed a lot of characteristics of a championship team and/or contender Friday night in its much-anticipated matchup with Pinnacle at the 6th annual VisitMesa.com Basketball Challenge. 

Corona built a modest halftime lead, bumped it up to 14 early in the second half and then when the inevitable Pinnacle run arrived, the Aztecs were ablt to stave it off. The result was a 69-65 victory at Mesa Mountain View High School.

Junior guard Casey Benson and sophomore forward Cassius Peat were outstanding  for Corona (12-1), which won its 10th consecutive game. Benson and Peat scored 20 points each with Benson hitting from outside (three 3s) and slashing to the hoop for a couple buckets. Peat was the inside guy, making 6-of-7 shots and eight free throws while adding 14 rebounds, almost split evenly between the offensive and defensive end.

"Cassius was really good tonight," Corona del Sol coach Sam Duane Jr. said. "He set the tone with his play and intensity. Casey helped us get off to a nice start on offense. Plus I thought we were very good defensively."

Pinnacle coach Charlie Wilde praised Corona's defense, an adept switching man-to-man, that disrupted the Pioneers offense and didn't give them the array of looks they'd found in earlier tournament games.

"They did play good defense and that took us some time to get used to," Wilde said. "We practice against it, but it was hard for us at times. They hit every big shot, got every big rebound. A couple times we gave up baskets that hurt. They were due to miscommunication."

One of those was an inbounds pass in the final two seconds of the first half. Corona's Brian Siefker looked like Tony Romo, firing a three-quarter court pass to a streaking Peat (Dez Bryant), for buzzer-beating layup that made it 30-24 at halftime.

"Brian called that on his own," Duane Jr. said. "It was alert on his part."

Three minutes into the second half, Corona continued to build the lead. The Aztecs held a 46-32 advantage with 13 minutes to play. Later in the second half after Pinnacle had pulled to within four, Peat returned the long-assist favor slinging an in-bounds pass to Siefker for a layin.

Still that defensive lapse didn't signal Pinnacle's demise Pinnacle which trailed 64-56 with 1:43 to play, cut the deficit to 64-62 on bak-to-back long 3s by Dorian Pickens (24 points, nine reobunds). The lead reached 67-62 with 28 seconds, but Drew Bender (12 points) knocked down a 3 with with 14 seconds left. Benson canned two free throws with eight seconds left to finally seal the deal.

"I think our defense won this for us," Duane said. 'Our guys take a lot of pride in it.  I liked that as many runs as they made at us, we came back and answered. That's a good sign."

Lee Andari had an active night for Pinnacle (9-5) scoring eight points and grabbing eight rebounds. Jarrett Givens, who has given Duane quality minutes off the bench, did so again with nine points and six rebounds.

Corona del Sol plays the final game of this year's tournament  Saturday night (Dec. 29) at 8:30 against Pacific Hills, (West Hollywood, CA). Both teams are 3-0 in the tournament. Pinnacle closes at 7 p.m. against Churchill (Eugene, OR). Both teams are 2-1 in the tournament. The Corona and Pinnacle games will be broadcast live Saturday and can be seen on Cox-7.

FRIDAY DEC. 28 RESULTS

Mercer Island (WA) 50 Gilbert High 45; Hoover (San Diego, CA) 63, Desert Vista 61; Red Mountain 50, Lexington (SC) 48; Churchill (OR) 68, Dobson 53; Gilbert Christian 74, Waterloo Collegiate Institute 59;  Pacific Hills (CA) 69, Salpointe 42; St. John's Jesuit (Toledo, OH) 64, Mesa Mountain View 53.

SATURDAY DEC. 29 SCHEDULE

 9:30 a.m. -- Salpointe (0-3) vs. Gilbert Christian (1-2); 11 a.m. -- Gilbert (1-2) vs. Hoover (San Diego, CA (2-1)); 12:30 p.m. -- Red Mountain (1-2) vs. Waterloo Collegiate Institute (Canada (0-3); 2 p.m. -- Dobson (1-2) vs. St. John's Jesuit (2-1); 3:30 p.m. -- Desert Vista (2-1) vs. Mercer island, (WA) (2-1); 5 p.m. -- Mesa Mountain View (1-2) vs. Lexington, (SC) (1-2); 7 p.m. -- Pinnacle (2-1) vs. Churchill (OR)  (2-1); 8:30 p.m. -- Corona del So (3-0) vs. Pacific Hills, (West Hollywood, CA) (3-0).