Final-4 of 2A: Pima vs Arizona Lutheran

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On Friday, February 24th I watched the 2A Final-4 at the Arizona Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Phx, AZ.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was #2 <strong>Pima Roughriders</strong> versus #6 <strong>Arizona Lutheran</strong>. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pima won <strong>53-41 </strong>with a sheer dominance of size from the 1-5.<strong> </strong>There starting SG-Center are 6'4-6'7 where Arizona Lutheran's tallest player is 6'4. I talked to Coach Doug Meyer of Lutheran after the game and he said,  “It was very hard to emulate their size. We tried to in practice but their weight and size were too much for us.” </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2><strong>Here were some of the Final-4 Standouts</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817694' first='Grant' last='Ashby'] Pima (Pictured)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A fluid scoring guard with great size. He can score it a variety of ways. He has the floater game, he has a nice hesitation and can blow-by to the rim, he can pull-up from mid-range, he has a spin move and can hit the catch three. He handles a lot of the point guard duties and plays from the neck up. He has a good feel to dime his teammates. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817737' first='Pierce' last='Ashby'] Pima&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A long and lean power forward is a big time jumper. He leaps up quickly to corral the board at its highest point. He is a defensive post player who springs up quickly to block shots and moves easily in space. He is a fluid athlete and will score around the basket and can face-up from elbow and in.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817738' first='Garrett' last='Curtis'] Pima</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A burly wing forward can shoot it from mid-range. He plays the passing lanes well and brings his football toughness to the court. He can defend post players inside and then on the perimeter.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Seth Russell PF 6'4 2023 Pima</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A skilled undersized post player with broad shoulders and strength. All his &nbsp; points are in the paint but rebounds at a good clip with his longer arms, positioning and girth. He has soft hands to catch tougher passes and plays hard.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Coy Miller PG 6'0 2023 Pima</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A throw back pure point guard who sees the court well and will throw the strike to a teammate. He can burst into the lane and score or drive and kick it to a shooter.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1490883' first='Luis' last='Guerrero'] Arizona Lutheran</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A point guard who is a flashy ball handler and passer. Despite being undersized he handles contact in the paint well. He gives hard ball fakes and have the defense fly by or side step and he will drain the three calmly.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817666' first='Stephan' last='Iron Shell'] Arizona Lutheran</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A new player for me is their top scoring guard. The lefty is a sniper with a high feel who averaged 20 ppg and 45% from the 3pt line. He can blow by his defenders with layups and can hit the three with some range and a fast trigger. He is tough to score in traffic despite being undersized.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1490884' first='Noah' last='Draper'] Arizona Lutheran&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A skilled wing forward is a point forward type. He has a fairly consistent jumper to the three point off the catch. He has a good handle to shot fake and he will burst by to score. He changes speeds well to get the defender off of him and is a good passer and play form the next up.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1817735' first='Rylan' last='Bass'] Arizona Lutheran</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A long wing defender has active hands and feet. He can be a long term 3 and D type. He mostly scores it inside on layups but can hit the three point shot with space and time. His presence is definitely felt on defense with his long arms and quick twitch athleticism.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->