Gilbert Christian High School has become a basketball powerhouse in the state of Arizona in a rather short amount of time.
In only the school's third season of operation, the boy's basketball program won their second state championship in three years Saturday at Jobing.com Arena.
This time around, Gilbert Christian (27-4) won the state title in the Division-III Class, an amazing feat when you consider the school's small class size of 145 students.
In the school's first year of existence, the 2009-2010 season, the program went an amazing 32-0 and won the 1A Division state title. Last season, the school lost in the state final to a dominant Orme School team that went undefeated.
In three seasons of existence, Gilbert Christian has compiled an amazing record of 84-8.
Saturday, after losing in the state final the previous season, the Knights returned focused on wining another championship, and they would have no problem, as they would handle a talented Thatcher HS (30-4) team quite easily, 62-42, in the Division-III final.
The day was an exciting day of high school basketball as six consecutive state championship games were played at Jobing.com Arena in what was regarded as "Championship Saturday." It would become just that for the Knights, as they would outscore Thatcher 15-8 in the second period to take a 28-17 lead into the half.
With Thatcher looking to climb back into the game in the fourth period and down by 12 points, Gilbert Christian would pour it on - outscoring the Eagles 20-12 in the final quarter and bringing home another state title.
Talented 6-foot-7, 215-pound senior forward Connor Patterson would finish off a strong senior season for himself, pouring in a game-high 20 points and 9 rebounds in the victory.
Super sophomores, 6-foot-7 forward Sam Jones would finish with 17 points and 9 rebounds, while 6-foot-3 guard Roberto Reyes would contribute 9 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
The Knight's backcourt was very strong in the victory as they have been all season, as heady 6-foot-1 senior point guard Logan Fougnies and 6-foot-4 junior shooting guard Dylan Bliss were both very instrumental in the team's victory and success all season long. For Fougnies and Bliss, Saturday's win would be their second career state titles.
The victory over Thatcher would be Gilbert Christian's third win over the program in the month of February.
Gilbert Christian's only four losses this season came at the hands of out-of-state competition, and bigger Arizona schools from Division-I and Division-II contenders.
Gilbert Christian finished the 2011-2012 high school basketball season as winners of their last 18 games on the season.
While Fougnies and Patterson will both graduate this season after having excellent high school careers for the program, this talented team and basketball program has a lot to look forward to in the future.
Playoff Notes: #1 seed Page High School's girls basketball program won this year's Division-III state championship on Saturday evening at Jobing.com Arena with a 46-38 victory over #7 seed Winslow HS (24-6). Page finished the season with an impressive 31-2 record on the season.
