The first game of Day 2 of this year's 22nd Annual Paradise Valley Invitational from Paradise Valley High School was Sandra Day O’Connor vs Cactus Shadows. Cactus Shadows would win the game 59 to 46, and was up by atleast 6 to 15 points the whole game.
Cactus was led by senior 6-foot-1 shooting guard CJ Davis who had 26 points in the game. Davis scored at all 3-levels making it impossible to focus on one aspect of his game. He has a very good deceptive crossover and can pull-up from deep, or blow by his man and finish with his left or right hand. Davis will be a nuisance to any opposing team all year. CJ had some help from the Laine brothers. Seniors, 5-foot-10 guard Brett Laine and 6-foot-1 junior guard Justin Laine are elite 3-point shooters. They made five 3-pointers between them in the contest. Once again, senior forwards Cody March and Theo Igwe did the best they could to keep the game close for Sandra Day, as they were both in double-figures scoring.
The second game of the day featured Horizon vs Washington, and turned out to be the best game of the event in the 2 days. Horizon won a close one, 54 to 52, with a 3-point shot by 5-foot-10 junior shooting guard Christian Coraggio with 10 seconds left, as he had 9 points on the day.
Washington couldn’t get a shot off and lost the game, but Jacob Bowman led all scorers for the event with 32 points on the evening. Every time you thought Horizon was going to put the game away, Bowman scored. He truly has a special pace to his game, since he never rushes any play and is very comfortable being “the man.”
For Horizon, all 5 starters had at least 8 points and no one had more than 12 - a very balanced scoring effort. Senior 6-foot-4 forward Sean Deacon had 8 points, with most of his work coming in the paint off of his solid ball-handling. 6-foot-3 senior forward Jordan Esser made plays everywhere on the floor with his length on the defensive end - getting 5 steals and many running lay-ups in transition. Horizon is led by 6-foot sophomore point guard Brandon Burke, who hit 3 three-pointers and put his teammates in the right position to succeed.
The third game of the night was Desert Ridge vs Desert Mountain. Desert Mountain jumped out to a quick 17 to 6 lead in the first quarter, but, after that, it was a tough game in the middle quarters for both teams. Desert Mountain wore them down and pulled away in the fourth quarter to win the game, 67-47, but it was basically a 10-point game the whole night.
6-foot-5 senior shooting guard Diego Magana of DM led all scorers with 19 points on his 3-point shooting, and also getting to the line 6 different times. 5-foot-10 junior point guard Rolando Rhymes had 16 points, 7 assists and 6 steals to control the game for DM. 6-foot-5 junior forward Jordan Higgins was very active off the bench, and 6-foot-3 junior guard Will Goff had a good all-around game, including his first dunk of the year on the fast break.
Christian Rojas of Desert Ridge paced his team with a team-high 16 points, and, once again, 6-foot-1 junior point guard Hunter Thomas controlled the ball and the tempo, as he had 12 points for himself including some nice assists. Also forward Cameron Chetwin for Desert Ridge hit 3 three-pointers to keep the game close. Give credit to Desert Ridge who fought hard the whole game. Head coach Greg Ream did a great job keeping his players focused after being down by so much after the first period.
The 4th and final game of the night featured Perry HS and tournament host, Paradise Valley HS. PV controlled the game early to go up by 10 points, and the game stayed like that the whole contest. PV won 75 to 59, led by 6-foot-6 senior forward Paul Watson (Fresno State signee) who had 28 points. Watson, once again, was hard for anyone to contain.
6-foot-5 forward Ryan Finley had 19 points and 6-foot-4 senior forward Connor Euting had 14 points. Also contributing for Paradise Valley was 6-foot freshman point guard Jacob Brown, who started for the injured junior PG Brandon Williams. Brown had some nice passes on the day and looks like he has a bright future. 6-foot-4 senior forward Anthony Walker showed his usual toughness in the paint - grabbing many rebounds.
For Perry, 5-foot-10 junior point guard Jordan Howard scored in bunches and had 27 points on the night. He puts constant pressure on the defense and was getting the opposing guards in foul trouble the whole night. Junior 6-foot-4 forward Jake Mortensen also chipped in with 13 points, and junior 6-foot-6 power forward Lane Veach showed some good energy.
Next up for Paradise Valley, a semi-final match-up with Desert Mountain.
