There wasn’t a need for a long, drawn-out meeting when Paradise Valley’s seniors met with their coaches when this season started. 

The goal for the seniors was simple: win a state championship.

The hard part for Paradise Valley was navigating through a long season and one big obstacle — Phoenix Sunnyslope’s boys basketball team. But after Thursday’s 63-48 victory over Sunnyslope, Paradise Valley no longer needs to worry about its section nemesis, at least for this season.

“Just feel bad, because they (Sunnyslope) are a great team,” Paradise Valley coach Mark MacGowan said. “We have a lot of respect for Sunnyslope. We’ve had a good rivalry.”

All that’s left for Paradise Valley and its seniors to accomplish this season is to win one more game and bring home that title they’ve been chasing all season long.

Thursday’s Division II state semifinal meeting between Sunnyslope and Paradise Valley, the fourth time they’ve met this season, at Jobing.com Arena wasn’t as close as many expected. Sunnyslope won two of the three regular season nail-biters, including the final regular season meeting, a triple overtime thriller, about two weeks ago.

On Thursday, Paradise Valley took control early, hitting its threes and keeping Sunnyslope’s perimeters threats, especially Isaiah Cota, in check until guard Navareio Holmes and his picture-perfect jumper started swishing shots in in the second quarter. Holmes went 7-for-15 from the field and scored 19 points but was the only Sunnyslope player to reach double digits in points.

For Paradise Valley, the long- armed Paul Watson scored 23 points and went 10-for-11 from the free throw line, and senior Ryan Finley scored 20 points. Watson, one of Paradise Valley’s senior leaders, also threw down a memorable dunk as he took off from the left side to give Paradise Valley a 28-12 lead in the second quarter.

Paradise Valley shot 64.7 for the game. With Paradise Valley hitting its shots, Sunnyslope found it difficult to comeback after trailing 15-3 when the first quarter ended.

Sunnyslope (28-4), the No. 1 seed in the tournament, cut the deficit to seven points in the fourth quarter, but Paradise Valley kept finding the open man in the lane for easy baskets down the stretch. Paradise Valley (25-7), the No. 4 seed, will take on No. 6 Tucson Salpointe in Saturday’s D-II noon final at Jobing.com Arena.