Desert Vista High School (4-0) is a definite favorite to win this year's 6A State Title, and they proved just how good this year's group is, as they dismantled each of their opponents this week en route to winning this year's Fear The Hop Tournament. An annual pre-season tournament held at Mesa High School, Desert Vista capped off an excellent week of performances with a big 83-56 championship victory over host Mesa High School (3-1) on Saturday evening.
Head Coach Gino Crump and his experienced staff are not taking any chances this season, as they have worked hard to prepare their team this high school season to win it all. This week proved the staff's level of game preparation, as they overcame possible potential pitfalls in games with Hamilton and Mesa High School. After nice wins over Seton Catholic (78-63) and Casteel High School (112-79) in the first and second rounds, Desert Vista was able to blow past Hamilton in fine fashion, 77-49 - a huge win for Crump and his staff. Desert Vista had been upset by Hamilton twice last season by big numbers, but this year's Desert Vista team is much different and much more talented and deep, and it showed in their big win over a well-coached Hamilton ballclub.
Against Mesa Saturday evening, Desert Vista would again take their play to another level, as they would blow past another well-coached team, on their home floor and in the championship game. Desert Vista would prove to be too athletic, big and focused for Mesa to ever make any true runs in the contest. After taking a nice 44-31 lead at the half, behind strong play from dominant 6-foot-9 senior post Osa Ighodaro (Marquette University signee) and terrific 6-foot sophomore guard Dasean Lecque, Desert Vista would blow the game wide open in the second half en route to an impressive 83-56 championship win.
While we are only (4) games into the high school season for this very talented group, Desert Vista had a very well balanced attack throughout the week, as numerous players on the team made valuable contributions to the team's ultimate success. This team is absolutely loaded with talented prospects, but Crump and his staff's game preparation and getting the team to play together and hard on both ends of the floor has been equally impressive thus far.
Notes: Desert Vista 6-foot sophomore transfer guard Dasean Lecque was extremely impressive all week in his play - leading the team this week in scoring in each game. Lecque scored 24 points in his first Arizona high school game against Seton Catholic, then a game-high 30 points against Casteel HS, 18 points against Hamilton and then another game-high 23 points in the championship win over Mesa - giving him a scoring average of 23.3 points in the tournament. The younger brother of Phoenix Suns' guard Jalen Lecque, Dasean is a serious problem for guards in the state and has proven to quickly become the top sophomore guard prospect in the state's 2022 Class.
