Ironwood once again has emerged as the kingpin of the relentless 5A boys basketball Northwest Region. Who is second this season? The answer depends on the week. In the first week back for schools from both their districts, a red-hot Willow Canyon team earned that designation entering the week, following a competitive 79-70 loss to the Eagles. Centennial won its last two region games before the break after finally rolling out something close to a full lineup:

Jan. 9: #16 (5A) Centennial 81, #6 (5A) Willow Canyon 69

THE STAKES

Are these teams 5A dark horses or contenders (in the likely event of Desert Mountain, Millennium and Notre Dame Prep making the final 8 of the Open Division)? This game would test their bona fides. This really isn’t a rivalry and the teams only joined the same region last year, although Willow Canyon coach Joseph Colletti was once a Centennial assistant. The Coyotes came in with a little extra for the home rematch of a 66-57 loss at Willow Canyon Dec. 2. Centennial hoped to reschedule that game, since star senior Gage Galbreath was playing for the Coyotes’ football team in the Open Division title game against Liberty. No dice.

THE SCENE

This was the biggest crowd Willow Canyon brought east in recent memory and it makes sense. Led by the dynamic backcourt of junior Kaleel Kelly and senior Braylon Haman the Surprise school was flying high at 15-2. At 10-8, Centennial entered more desperate for a big win and smarting from how the first game went. There was a little extra fuel in the Coyote crowd, though things never got nasty.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Gage Galbreath, and Centennial, had a fairly quiet first half. Willow Canyon led 33-27 at the break and had held the 6-6 forward to 4 points. Both trends quickly changed as the big man completed an and-one, then tipped in a miss to give the Coyotes a 37-36 lead. Midway through the quarter the home team held on to a 41-39 advantage. When the buzzer sounded soon after a Galbreath three, Centennial finished a 19-4 run and a 33-10 quarter to lead 60-43. That trey capped Galbreath’s 15-point quarter. He finished the night with 23.

PLAY OF THE NIGHT

Galbreath kicked the third-quarter run into overdrive, slamming home a lob feed from sophomore guard Aiden Delafield to stretch Centennial’s lead to 47-39.

3 THINGS I LEARNED

We’ll cut this down to three since it’s a week after the game

· Centennial at close to full strength with a low seed in the playoffs should give 5A opponents fits like Sunrise Mountain did as an 11 seed that reached the semifinals last season. Other than a Open Division title contender like Millennium, it's hard to think of another 5A team that has a big like Galbreath, who can score at all tree levels, create his shot and dominate the boards. Add in senior wings Keyan Murphy (6-5) and Andrew Lopez (6-2) and increasingly comfortable sophomore point guard Johnny Rios and a contending core is there. Three more guards provide something - senior Chase James (a steadying presence) junior Riley Coyle (pesky fullcourt defense) and sophomore Delafield (three-point shooting).

· Willow Canyon's depth, fast pace and guard play will keep the WIldcats in virtually every game. By now Colletti and his players are used to piecing together undersized players for minutes in the post and at forward. This year's cast is senior forward Chris Burphy (6-2), junior forward Kobyn Ray (6-5), junior forward Jaxsen Williams (6-2) and senior forward Mark Bright (6-2). The Wildcats biggest obstacle to being a true 5A title contender is getting a third consistent scoring threat to take some pressure off Haman (23.3 ppg, 5.2 spg) and Kelly (16 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 5.6 apg, 2.4 spg) to produce points when the press doesn't.

· Both teams have to be considered dark horses for now bot are absolutely equipped to come into an opponent's gym in February and win a playoff game. Both teams can press and score in bunches

A LOT CAN CHANGE IN A WEEK

· The momentum from Centennial’s big win lasted all of two days. A 6-10 Sunrise Mountain team went into the Coyotes gym Thursday and won 54-50, led by 12 points from sophomore Marcus Murray.

· Willow Canyon suffered a third straight tough region loss at Apollo that same night, battling the Hawks into the final seconds before losing 70-67. Sophomore guard Elijah White paced Apollo with 14 points and seven assists. But Colletti’s team has righted itself, blowing out Paradise Valley 84-47 at home on the 12th. Then Willow Canyon took part in the six-game MLK Dream Classic presented by Monarch Sports at Corona del Sol High in Tempe Monday. The Wildcats pulled away from Mountain Pointe in the fourth quarter to win 55-46 and run their record to 17-4.

A LOT CAN CHANGE IN A WEEK

Centennial Coach Tarik James: "For us the second half was more about smiling on the court and having a good time, and not being afraid to make mistakes. I thought than in the first half we were being too tentative," James said. "We were too worried about making mistakes. We can't worry about that."

"Gage got that dunk and it was over. We had that momentum going and the crowd behind us. The players were up and cheering. It was beautiful," James said.

"We had to get some energy in the game so we put Riley in there. Riley has done that all season, come in and play hard," James said. "Johnny is not a young guard anymore. He startede every game as a freshman and every game this season. He leads us and makes us go."

Gage Galbreath: "When we went to Vegas and over break in practice it's starting to come together. We still have transfers coming back. I think we're all coming together perfect and I'm excited to see what we can do the next couple games."

"We started getting more aggressive. I started getting more aggressive on the rebounds and the layups," Galbreath said.

Johnny Rios: "We worked on the press a lot and watched it on film, seeing how we could get better at it," Rios said.

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