After some shuffling, Mesa Primetime summer ready to roll

June 23, 2011 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


The first annual Mesa Primetime Summer boys basketball touranament underwent changes to the eight-team field this week, but is ready to roll Friday June 24 and Saturday June 25 at Red Mountain High School.

Earlier this week Raymond Kellis dropped out of the tournament and was replaced by Chaparral. Late Wednesday, Westwind Prep bowed out with Mountain Pointe joining the field. The seeds have been shuffled as well with a new schedule arranged starting at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Games on Friday at 5 p.m. are #8 Mountain Pointe vs. #1 Corona del Sol and #5 Mesa Mountain View vs. #4 Amphitheater. Games at 6 p.m. are #6 Desert Mountain vs. #3 Pinnacle and #7 Chaparral vs. #2 Desert Vista. The winners and loser of the 5 p.m. games play at 7 p.m. and the winners and losers at 6 p.m. play at 8 p.m. The championship game is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday. All games are at Red Mountain HS.

"They asked us to come in after Westwind dropped out," Mountain Pointe coach Brian Fleming, whose team reached the 5A-I quarters last year, said. "It will give us a chance to see how much growth we need against some really good competition."

Games consist of two, 20-minute halves with running clock except for the final minute of each half. Some other rule variations are in place to speed up play, specifically with free-throw shooting and points awarded for successful free throws. The idea of the tournament is to view some of the top teams and their players, most of whom will be in attendance at a time when camps and showcases abound.

Corona del Sol, with most of its team returning from last year's 5A-I quarterfinal loss to eventual champ Mountain View, features senior guard Calaen Robinson and senior post Avery Moss. Mountain View features post Camyn Boone, last year's 4A-II champ Amphi has Tim Derksen and 2011 5A-I quarterfinalist Desert Vista is led by Danny Powell. Chaparral was last year's 5A-II runner-up and Pinnacle a 5A-II semifinalist along with Desert Mountain, has many of its top players back.