The venue was Mesquite High School for a great matchup between the Hamilton Huskies and the Corona Del Sol Aztecs. The Huskies were sporting a 21-6 record, while the Aztecs had an impressive 24-4 record.
The game’s first basket was a three-pointer by Hamilton’s senior guard Nate Walker, which was answered on the following possession by Corona's 6-foot-2 junior guard Casey Benson, who celebrated the shot to the rowdy Hamilton fans section.
The first timeout was taken by Hamilton, following back-to-back buckets by Adam Gleave, one of which was a three-pointer, with three and a half minutes left in the first quarter. It was a 12-5 Corona lead at this point.
Following the timeout, the Huskies went on a nice run to make it a 14-12 Corona lead after the first quarter.
The second quarter brought little action to start, as both teams struggled offensively. Corona called a timeout at the five-minute mark, tied with Hamilton at 17 points apiece.
Both teams started to trade baskets, until Corona ended the half on a nice run, capped off by a steal and an assist by sophomore forward Cassius Peat to Jarrett Givens, who finished with an and-1 - making it a 29-24 Corona lead at halftime.
Casey Benson scored seven points in each of the quarters to have 14 at the break. Adam Gleave and Jarrett Givens each contributed 5 for the Aztecs. Hamilton was led by an all-around solid performance, with 6-foot-7 sophomore post James Sosinski scoring 6 in the first half. Nate Walker also scored 5 for the Huskies.
The third quarter began with a 5-0 Corona run to make it a 10-point lead.
Things got chippy just two minutes into the quarter, when Adam Gleave and Dylan McCall were called for a double-technical. Following the technical, Casey Benson scored buckets on back-to-back possessions to make it a 12-point lead and force a Hamilton timeout.
Hamilton began feeding Sosinski in the post, and he was effective, until he landed badly on his ankle and had to leave the game, with just under three minutes left in the third. He would not return.
Corona closed out the quarter the best way possible, as they played keep-away for the last minute, and ended the with a backdoor pass from Bryan Siefker to Jarrett Givens, who finished at the buzzer. This made it a 46-35 Corona lead after three.
Without Sosinski, Hamilton was going to have a tough time coming back in this one. However, Jay Mohn made a huge impact inside defensively, as he had a highlight real play midway through the fourth quarter - getting back-to-back blocks on Casey Benson layup attempts. Despite his defensive play inside, Corona did it from deep as well, and were able to close out Hamilton with no problems.
With :30 seconds left, the Corona fan section started chanting, "Where’s our trophy?” They ended winning by a final score of 62-52 and getting their trophy.
Casey Benson led all scorers with a game-high 28 points, as well as 4 assists. Adam Gleave added 12 points, while Bryan Siefker only had 2 points, but collected 11 rebounds for the Aztecs.
Hamilton was led by Luke McCook, who scored 13 off the bench. James Sosinski had 11 points, despite leaving with the injury.
Corona is showing why they are a force to be reckoned with, and are certainly a favorite to win it all this year.
