One might say Corona del Sol's aim Monday night was to run Desert Vista out of Gila River Arena. The first half certainly had that look and it continued in the second half.

Corona's defense fed its transition game big-time as the Aztecs completed another superb season with a 57-32 victory over the Thunder to win their fourth successive Division I basketball title and 70th win in a row over an Arizona opponent. The Aztecs were so dominant the final period was played with a running clock as the Aztecs piled up a 32-point lead after three quarters. A 30-point lead in high school in Arizona requires a running clock in the final period.

Corona's four-peat equals the big-school record held previously by Phoenix Union (1958-61). Phoenix Union had two coaches in that span that won two titles each. Sammy Duane Jr. has piloted all of Corona's during the four-peat. Duane Jr. also has equaled the number of titles won by his father, Sammy Duane Sr. in his tenure at Corona. Corona won titles under Duane Sr. in 1980, 1981, 1989 and 1994. The Aztecs' performance Monday night made them truly worthy of all the attention they've received this season and how dominant they  were on paper when play began in late November.

Corona cleared the bench with about three minutes left and its starters ran a patient attack the first half of the quarter during the running clock. With less than a minute left, the Aztecs were already donning some fourpeat T-shirts, including Mr. Fourpeat -- senior Cassius Peat  -- who has four hoop titles to take to Michigan State this fall on his football scholarship.

Corona (32-1) got eye-popping efforts from senior Dane Kuiper with 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Freshman Marvin Bagley III posted 16 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots and sophomore guard Alex Barcello chipped in with 12 points and three assists. The game was never in doubt and Sam Duane Jr. had a pretty easy time this night compared to other recent games. He knew things were going good quickly.

"After the first three minutes I knew our defense was on," Duane Jr. said. "We were up on the ball , closing lanes and all the things we work on in practice.... It's the best we played this year on defense."

Corona put on a clinic in the opening half to pave the way for the fourpeat. Handing out 11 assists on its 13 baskets in the first 16 minutes was impressive and five of six players who saw action in the opening half had at least one assist.

"We played together and hit the open man,"Barcello said. "We didn't care who got the ball and scored. We were looking for the open man."

Corona opened up a double-digit lead early in the second period and things snowballed from the 5:04 mark of the quarter for DV when leading scorer Brandon Clark notched his third foul and sat the rest of the half. Corona's lead at halftime was 31-13. Clark didn't score in the first half and got his first points in the final quarter -- three baskets. Quincy Taylor led Desert Vista with 10 points..

Desert Vista (26-5) was shooting for its second boys hoops titles in two decades of competition. The Thunder won in 2008 and were runners-up in 2003 and 2004. Corona's performance, combined with early foul trouble of leading scorer Brandon Clarke, was too much for the Thunder to cope with before the large D-I boys crowd.

"It was nothing different," Desert Vista coach Tony Darden said. "They like to get up and down and they attacked the rim. They were tough to stop."

 

 

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