Matthew Andujo
ASU Student Journalist

Mountain Pointe advances to first 6A championship game

February 21, 2018 by Matthew Andujo, Arizona State University


Coming into the Wednesday's 6A state semifinal agaimst No. 1 ranked Brophy, Mountain Pointe was viewed as the underdog. They used that as motivation.

“The first game of the season they beat us on a last second shot, so right off the bat we had to get a redemption,” said point guard Khalid Price, who finished with 13 points and three assists. “We knew that from the rip that we were the better team, so we had to prove to them.”

They did with a 62-58 victory that send them into their first state title game against Pinnacle next Wednesday. 

Jalen Graham was the big story. The 6-9 forward put his stamp on the game by controlling the paint on the defensive side and finishing with 10 rebounds against Brophy’s big men.

Leading 61-58 with 6.5 seconds remaining, Graham was fouled and headed to free throw line.

Graham hesitated on his shot, looking behind him, appearing to look at Brophy’s student section and then banked in the first free throw to give Mountain Pointe a four-point lead. He missed the second shot, but the game was over.

“It was kind of funny to me, I was kind of surprised, because I thought it was the ref, so I turned around and it wasn’t the ref,” said Graham. “I felt very confident, I was happy and excited, too.”

Mountain Pointe lived up to its eputation as a team that applies defensive pressure the length of the court.  

“We press the whole game, that’s we do. Our thing is that we don’t have a knockout player, we don’t have a guy we can just throw the ball and he score 20-25,” said coach Duane Eason. “We pick up the tempo, disrupt, try to make it tough for teams.”

This was Mountain Pointe’s first time playing at Wells Fargo Arena and it took in the whole experience.

“It was a great experience, great atmosphere, both student sections came out, it was loud the whole game,” said senior Ryan Pate.

Pate, one of the best shooters in the state, finished with 10 points, making two 3-pointers.  

Mountain Pointe was the first Arizona team to beat Brophy this season.