Valley Christian's basketball programs house two of the 15 coaches in Arizona history made more unique by the fact that all 1,045 wins between Greg Haagsma and Scott Timmer came with the Trojans
Ironwood Ridge won the team portion of the 50th Flowing Wells Invitational held Friday and Saturday with a score of 222.5. The Nighthawks entered the final round with a 13.5 lead over two-time defending champion Mesa Mountain View (130.5 to 117) and held on for the victory.
Ironwood Ridge and Tucson played to a 1-1 tie Friday night in an important Division II, Section VI match. With the tie, both teams remain within striking distance of Salpointe for the section lead.
Paradise Valley held on to defeat Marana Mountain View 46-43 Tuesday night to remain undefeated (11-0) in power-ranking games. Ranked No. 2 in the current Division II AIA/MaxPreps rankings, the Trojans are 16-2 overall with their two losses coming during invitationals.
No. 8 Gilbert Christian held on for a 51-48 win at No. 7 Catalina Foothills in a rare Division II battle played on a Saturday night. Senior standout Mitch Lightfoot led all scorers with 29 points.
Ironwood Ridge had a difficult time shaking Basha last night but the Nighthawks pulled away with a 51-46 win to improve to 7-1 in power ranking games. Oh, and along the way, senior standout Lexy Ram set an important scoring milestone.
The Division I basketball champions each began their title defense with new coaches. With just over a month before the postseason, both squads are still trying find last year's level of play.
They say basketball is a game of runs and that was the case Tuesday night when Salpointe Catholic came back from nine points down only to give up an 11-point lead before outlasting Sunnyside 74-68 in overtime.
Chumacera was named the Most Valuable Player of The Grove Invitational Saturday after Sunnyside (14-1) blew through the field to win the championship. The Blue Devils outscored their opponents 16-1 along the way including a 4-0 dismantling of Catalina Foothills on Wednesday, a 2-0 win over Rincon/University in the semifinal round and a 2-0 domination of Nogales in the final.