10 observations from Horizon at Desert Mountain

<p>On Tuesday night I attended the 5A Horizon Huskies at 5A Desert Mountain Wolves.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Here were 10 observations from the three games I viewed:</p> <p><strong>#1 Horizon has some nice youth in the program already contributing on varsity. </strong></p> <p><strong>#2 Desert Mountain youth may be the best in years. </strong></p> <p><strong>#3 Two freshman from Horizon stood out in the freshman game. </strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="937198" first="Braden" last="Totman"] SF 6’5 2023 Horizon </p> <p>-A long and taller shooting forward has a lot to like for the future. He has a pure stroke with deep range. </p> <p>Donny Arqueros PG 5’6 2023 Horizon </p> <p>-A pure PG may be small in stature but the ball is on a string for him and he is a very good advanced passer and is always making plays for others. He knows how to change speeds and is very competitive. </p> <p><strong>#4 Three freshman stood out from Desert Mountain in the JV game. </strong> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://prephoops.com/player/ryan-ginsberg/">[player_tooltip player_id="831128" first="Ryan" last="Ginsberg"]</a> PG 5’11 Desert Mountain </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A rare old school pure PG has a high IQ and can shoot it. He has a tight handle and handles pressure easily. He has a quicker first step and can score it inside. He will run the varsity team his junior and senior year most likely and give them good minutes next year as well. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://prephoops.com/player/zach-anderson/">[player_tooltip player_id="814505" first="Zach" last="Anderson"]</a> SG 6’0 Desert Mountain </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A consistent shooter has a pretty looking stroke. He has good range and gets it off quickly. He has a nice build and good length plus he can also slither in the lane with a decent handle. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Chris Washkevich F 6’1 2023 Desert Mountain </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A burly forward plays really hard and is aggressive. He is a cerebral player that passes well, rebounds and brings it every possession. His body is impressive for a freshman and he literally almost had a triple-double in the JV game with points, rebounds and assists. </span></p> <p><strong>#5 All three freshman from Desert Mountain will be making noise on varsity sooner rather then later. </strong> </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Varsity game: </strong></p> <p><strong>#6 Horizon has two players who can hurt you at any moment and will hang tough with PV in the 1st round.</strong></p> <p><strong>#7 Desert Mountain trio of guards will be a fun match-up versus Apollo’s guards. </strong></p> <p><strong>#8 Stud soph <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/connor-barrett/">[player_tooltip player_id="827005" first="Connor" last="Barrett"]</a> from Desert Mountain will hopefully make it back next year-(he is sitting out this HS season).  </strong></p> <p><strong>#9 The Desert Mountain gym is one of the most unique in the entire state. </strong></p> <p>https://twitter.com/GreggRosenberg1/status/1227413488445743105</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>#10 Here were the Varsity standouts:</strong></p> <p>Desert Mountain 65 Horizon 59</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="933540" first="Croix" last="Sweeney"] SF 6’2 2022 Horizon </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A thicker skilled wing can handle the ball like a guard, shoot the 3 and carve his way into the paint and score through contact. He is extremely strong and plays with a high IQ and can score from all 3 levels. He will definitely appear in the next updated soph rankings.  </span></p> <p><strong><a href="https://prephoops.com/player/john-jd-feagles/">[player_tooltip player_id="706739" first="John" last="Feagles"]</a> SG 6’2 2020 Horizon  </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A strong scoring guard has a beautiful looking shot. He may have the fastest shooting releases in the entire state. The Wolves players ran at him to close out but he still got his shot off in a blink of an eye. He kept the game close down the stretch with his FT’s, quick hands to steal the ball and deep 3’s. He has a stronger upper body and is sneaky athletic to throw it down on the break. </span></p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="809730" first="Tony" last="Elliott"] PG 6’1 2021 Desert Mountain</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A long and lean scoring PG. He is very quick with the ball and moves smartly without the ball and cuts to the basket. He can drive it with longer strides and hit from mid-range. He uses his big wingspan to collect steals. </span></p> <p><strong><a href="https://prephoops.com/player/carson-biggs/">[player_tooltip player_id="809732" first="Carson" last="Biggs"]</a> CG 6’1 2021 Desert Mountain</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-Stronger scoring lead guard is a better passer than I realized. His best skill is still his shooting from mid to the 3pt line. He can also create his own shot off the dribble and score it. He is another that is sneaky athletic and can make some tough shots in the lane through traffic. </span></p> <p><strong><a href="https://prephoops.com/player/justice-rogers/">[player_tooltip player_id="804842" first="Justice" last="Rogers"]</a> PG 6’0 2020 Desert Mountain</strong></p> <p>-A fast guard is very good defensively and likes using his speed to get into the lane. He has a nice floater game and is a capable 3p shooter off the catch. He made many clutch FT’s down the stretch to ice the game for the Wolves. They will rely on his veteran leadership to guide them in the playoffs.  </p>