Millennium/Campo Verde 5A Championship Recap

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On March 3rd the <strong>Millennium Tigers </strong>and the <strong>Campo Verde Coyotes</strong> battled it out for the Boys 5A state championship. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both teams started off very slow with Campo having a 2-0 lead with under 5 minutes left in the first quarter. With both teams playing stingy defense points were hard to come by. Millennium was up 6-2 with 2:30 left in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter Millennium held a slim 15-11 lead. The 2nd quarter was much of the same as Campo took a 18-15 lead. The Tigers went on a slight run getting a 23-20 lead. At halftime Millennium held a a slim 25-22. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the third quarter Campo began to find it's groove despite some foul trouble. After a 13-5 run Campo Verde had a 35-30 lead with a little over four minutes left in the third quarter. With two minutes left in the third quarter Millennium switched to a zone in an effort to slow down the Coyotes. A three pointer at the buzzer gave Campo Verde a 38-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A big development was the fact that at the 6:28 mark left in the game Campo Verde would be in the penalty for the remainder in the game. Millennium was able to get within 6 in the fourth quarter but the experience of Campo Verde was too much to overcome. Even with star [player_tooltip player_id='994130' first='Isaiah' last='Kai'] fouling out in the final two minutes of the game they had more than enough skill and experience to finish the game off. Campo Verde wins with a final score of <strong>61-48</strong>. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Here is a look at some of the standout players from this game. </h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='994130' first='Isaiah' last='Kai'] <strong>Campo Verde</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The senior was as advertised despite fouling out. He displayed a good handle and a nice change of pace. He showed that he's a pass first point guard despite having the ability to get his own shot whenever he wants. He showed to be sneaky athletic and can score.<strong> NAU</strong> signee.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1150822' first='Cameron' last='Holmes'] <strong>Millennium</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cam showed why he is a top 5 freshman in the state. Defensively he has quietly become one of the top defenders in the state. His long arms and quick feet make for an offense's nightmare. He showed a nice versatile offensive game that will continue to grow. His shooting range extended well passed the three point line. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1124550' first='Cohen' last='Ferguson'] <strong>Campo Verde</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ferguson looked to be a nice complement to Kai. He took high percentage shots within the flow of the offense. He also showed leadership by not getting rattled early on when his team was down. Cohen was an important part defensively in helping slow down Millennium. <br><br>[player_tooltip player_id='1150844' first='Quincy' last='Everson'] <strong>Millennium</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Everson was in attack mode and did a very good job of distributing the ball. He was able to get into the teeth of the defense and kick to open shooters. While running the show the majority of the game, Quincy did not commit a single turnover which is a testament to him being smart enough to give what the defense gave him. His play making skills have improved and will only get better. <br><br>[player_tooltip player_id='1485864' first='Justin' last='Garcia'] <strong>Campo Verde</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One of the smallest players on the court came up big for the Coyotes. Garcia hit some timely shots in the 2nd half to help his team. He shot the ball well from the perimeter and like some of his teammates was perfect from the free throw line. The most surprising part of Justin's performance was that he led the team in rebounding. He just repeatedly kept flying to the ball collecting rebounds. <br><br>[player_tooltip player_id='1483968' first='Ty' last='McDowell'] <strong>Campo Verde</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another senior that stepped up big to help Kai. An athletic wing McDowell got to the rim often and finished at a high rate. Despite having foul troubles of his own, Ty continued to be aggressive defensively as well as crashing the boards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->