Both Dysart and Paradise Honors were sent adrift by offseason region changes, and somehow while both teams left a region of far West Valley schools, both went to different regions full of teams from other parts of the Valley. Paradise Honors is in the Skyline with Greenway, Moon Valley, Shadow Mountain, Thunderbird and Yuma. Dysart will rack up its gas expenses in the Black Canyon Region with trips to Apache Junction, Coronado, Cortez, Tempe and Vista Grande. So this was the only chance for this burgeoning rivalry to continue.
Jan. 5: #17 (4A) Dysart 74, #21 (4A) Paradise Honors 55
THE STAKES
Now it’s for bragging rights. These are the only nearby rival either school has. And this time around Dysart is the veteran team with bigger expectations. Paradise Honors was a state title contender in its first two years in 4A. Now the Panthers are practically starting over, with only two varsity players returning – neither of whom were in the rotation last year.
THE SCENE
Dysart has one of the smaller gyms in the West Valley. It was fairly packed Thursday night, though. And the sense from the home crowd was that this was the time to end Paradise Honors’ 4-game streak in the series. If not now, when?
PLAYER OF THE GAME
An Anderson brother. All three had their moments for Dysart in this game, but 6-4 junior Nigel Anderson gets the nod for his efficiency (6-9 on field goals for 16 points) and dominance on the boards, a game high 11. He and junior forward Kye Brown lead a night-long assault on the offensive glass.
PLAY OF THE NIGHT
It was that kind of game for Dysart. Firmly in command midway through the fourth quarter, senior guard Jayden Bolhar passed to Nigel Anderson near the three-point line. He fumbled the catch, which changed the direction of the ball toward younger brother Lamar in the left corner. Lamar Anderson caught it, immediately got a step on his man, drove baseline and dunked in traffic with his right hand.
“It’s been great. I want to see them succeed as much as I want to succeed,” senior forward Darius Anderson said.
THEY SAID IT
Darius Anderson: “We wanted to beat Paradise. That’s my first win against them and I’ve played them, like six times. We’ve been trying to beat them for a minute. To get a win against them, that felt great,” Anderson said.
“We talked about it at the beginning of the season. And if we keep working, with no bad practices, we feel like we should be a final four team in 4A,” Anderson said.
Dysart coach Keegan Cook: “Last year we only had one returner. All of these guys were new. They have a year under their belt plus being able to grow over the summer and fall, and putting in a lot of work. It’s made a big difference. They’re a lot more comfortable with our system. We’re still a work in progress but have made great strides,” Cook said.
“Defensively we did a good job flying around and making it difficult for Paradise Honors. They do a really good job offensively and are a really skilled team,” Cook said. “Guys are still trying to figure out the offense and how they can be successful within that. But we had some moments tonight where I thought we looked good.”
“Nate Morales handles the ball and gets to the rim. Jayden has been great for us. I think he’s got a lot of potential and is only getting better. He’s figured out what his spots are where he’s comfortable scoring the ball, handling the ball and running the offense.”
Paradise Honors coach Zach Hettel: “Obviously, we’re trying to win as many games as we can and hoping we can develop them at the same time. We had our starting big man Thomas (Moore) go out yesterday in practice with an ankle injury. Then River (Bell) goes out in the first quarter with an ankle. Then Josh (Morales) gets hit in the chest in the third quarter. So now I’m down three starters. You’re playing a lot more guys than even we did before,” Hettel said
“TJ (Harris) didn’t have close to his best game. Maybe the worst game he’s had for us. That’s the thing about freshmen. We’ve got a really good freshman group and we’re excited about them,” Hettel said. “You wish it was next year where they were getting this kind of playing time and not this year. It is what it is. We’ll try to find a way and make the playoffs. If we can that’ll be a huge thing from them to gain that experience. They’re a fun group to coach.”
5 THINGS I LEARNED
· Dysart is a quality 4A team with a 4-3 regular season and will be the favorite in its final 11 regular season games. The top 8 ranked teams in 4A automatically qualify for the Open Division. And the Demons, now ranked at #16, have almost zero chance of climbing into the top eight, even with a 15-3 regular season record. The rest of the region looks that bad. Coronado has the second best record of any Black Canyon team, at 2-4.
· Wherever the Demons land in the 4A bracket, they will be a handful. Darius and Nigel Anderson do not have to do it all. In fact, junior guard Nate Morales leads Dysart in scoring (14.4 ppg), assists (3.5 apg) and steals (2.4 spg). Bolhar is second in all three categories (12.7 ppg, 2.4 apg, 1.8 spg). Lamar Anderson is coming into his own and Brown is another wing, who doesn’t mind sliding inside and working the offensive boards. The Dysart football quarterback had 10 rebounds, in addition to 4 steals.
· Dysart’s length and leaping ability were lethal on defense all night and will trouble many 4A foes. Cook’s team finished with 14 steals and seven blocked shots against the Panthers.
· Hettel said the game plan was largely to go through forward River Bell, before his injury. Bell is one of only two players returning from last year's 4A quarterfinalist, along with junior guard Aiden Dunne. Neither were in the regular rotation last season. Dunne led all players with 19 points.
· Teams will line up to take their shot at Paradise Honors this year. After all the program moved up to 4A in 2021 and immediately advanced to the final, nearly knocking off St. Mary's. This is probably their only chance to put one over on the Panthers. Freshman point guard TJ Harris is averaging 15 points and 4 assists a game. Dunne is hovering around 14 points a contest. Freshman wing Dylan McClinton showed promise and a good activity level in this game. This program will be back soon.
