Observations from Horizon at Desert Mountain

On Tuesday January 19th I attended the 5A Horizon Huskies at the 5A Desert Mountain Wolves.   Here were some observations from the three games I viewed: #1 Desert Mountain has an impressive program from Fr-V. #2 One freshman from Horizon stood out in the freshman game. [player_tooltip player_id="1119350" first="Wyatt" last="McKay"] Horizon -A skilled forward handles it well and can make the floater, hit the 3, shoot from mid-range and leaps up to rebound in his area at a good rate. #3 Three freshman stood out from Desert Mountain in the freshman game. [player_tooltip player_id="1119348" first="Tyler" last="Stegmeir"] Desert Mountain -Has serious range with a good feel for the game. He can play both guard spots but may better be suited at the off guard since he shoots it so well initially. He has a decent burst to get into the lane and open court speed and can score it with either hand. [player_tooltip player_id="1119349" first="Dylan" last="Tapley"] Desert Mountain -A fluid athlete can handle it and is very hard to cover inside the paint. He also is a very good passer and rebounder. He defends well inside and out and collects steals and blocks. He also is reportedly a star WR in football. Ryan Dick PG 5’9 2024 Desert Mountain -A pure PG who sets the table and is a great leader. He also plays baseball. #4 Two sophs stood out from Horizon in the JV game. [player_tooltip player_id="937198" first="Braden" last="Totman"] Horizon -A face-up 4-man can rebound in his area and shoot it from the perimeter. He is becoming better inside to score the ball with a drop step but he can keep progressing and get stronger. Donny Arqueros PG 5’8 2023 Horizon -An undersized pure PG has good speed and a tight handle. He makes good passes to teammates and can score it with a floater or hit the catch-3. #5 Two sophs stood out from Desert Mountain in the JV game. [player_tooltip player_id="1119360" first="Diego" last="Ibarra"] Desert Mountain -His feel for the game is off the charts. An incredible passer and handles it well in traffic. He can make the catch-3 and gets into the lane and scores it through contact with good size and a thicker frame. He has an Argentina background with a high IQ and is very crafty. [player_tooltip player_id="1030973" first="Vincent" last="Parise"] Desert Mountain -An undersized guard is a gunner. His pull-up from mid to the 3pt line is impressive. He was firing away from deep off the catch and is very polished and confident and a little cocky. He is shooting 43% from the 3.   Varsity game: #6 Horizon has multiple shooters to keep them in games. #7 Horizon may have to figure out their PG if they want to go to the playoffs this season. #8 Horizon new coach Andrew Doss will be just fine. He can coach. #9 Desert Mountain’s glut of guards can hang with any group in 5A. #10 [player_tooltip player_id="809730" first="Tony" last="Elliott Jr"] is a 5A POY candidate. #11 Desert Mountain can play slow or fast. I think the faster they play, the better off they will be.   #12 Here were the Varsity standouts: Desert Mountain 65 Horizon 54 (unofficial stats) [player_tooltip player_id="809730" first="Tony" last="Elliott Jr"] Desert Mountain (17 pts 7 rebs 4 asts 5 stls) -His speed and quickness were on display. He was a ball hawk defensively collecting 5 steals and blew by essentially every defender they put in front of him. He uses the hesi well and changes speeds, to go along with his burst, making him a tough cover. He drives the lane with long strides and leaps up to make it difficult to block his shot above the traffic. [player_tooltip player_id="809732" first="Carson" last="Biggs"] Desert Mountain (12 pts 4 asts 2 stls) -A sturdy framed guard has good strength with a sweet shooting stroke. He is best off the catch and made smart reads to teammates for assists. He also plays good positional defense and collected a couple of steals. When he is shooting well, the Wolves are a tough out. [player_tooltip player_id="827044" first="Easton" last="Reagan"] Desert Mountain (12 pts 6 rebs 2 asts 4 stls 2 blks) -A crafty shooter can score it a variety of ways. He is a known deep shooter but can make shots using his handle to get into the lane. He has the floater game and made a couple plays for his teammates plus can post players up to score. He is an improving rebounder on both ends of the court and defensively he is making strides. He had multiple steals and blocked shots using his length and awareness of the game. He didn’t shoot it well from deep in this game but as you see by his stats, he was important to get the win with his all-around play. That is usually a sign of a good player. [player_tooltip player_id="827017" first="William" last="Dubuc"] Desert Mountain (15 pts 4 rebs) -A very active high-motored 4-man is very important to the teams success. He can handle it well for his size and drive around other forwards to rip through and score it in traffic. He has quick bounce to rebound the ball and plays a cerebral game. [player_tooltip player_id="933540" first="Croix" last="Sweeney"] Horizon (22 pts 5 rebs) -A strong wing forward can get hot quickly. He hit around 5 perimeter shots in a row to keep the Huskies in the game. He has good strength to rebound the ball, as he boxes out for position. He also is a sneaky good passer and almost plays the role of their point forward without a true PG playing. [player_tooltip player_id="1066489" first="Josh" last="Rodgers"] Horizon (8 pts 4 rebs 1 ast 1 stl) -A combo guard who can play some on or off the ball. He makes catch 3’s plus has a nice floater game and doesn’t mind sticking his body in traffic to rebound the ball. He makes good reads and is quick on the ball defensively. [player_tooltip player_id="1119323" first="Craig" last="Rodgers"] Horizon (6 pts 4 rebs) -A thick freshman who gets heavy minutes already on varsity. He use his strength and girth to carve out space in the lane to rebound plus score it. He has a nice hook shot and can bully his way to score through contact.