From here on out, it’s traditional playoff brackets for boys basketball. The 4A-6A games all tipped at the same time Thursday:
Feb. 16: 5A Playoffs first round #11 Sunrise Mountain 79, #6 Central 53
THE STAKES
Pretty easy from here on out. Win and your team gets to continue its season and compete for a gold ball. This was also one of those interesting matchups between a team that made the Open bracket, lost in the first round and dropped backed down (Central) and a team that had Open hopes entering the season only to see them derailed by early season injuries (Sunrise Mountain).
THE SCENE
The crowd might not have been 50-50 split, but it felt it was, since the visiting Mustangs were in control from the word go, leading 25-11 after the first quarter and only building from there. Central did not have much to cheer about. And to be fair, the purple ponies took up one section of the gym.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Sunrise Mountain senior Carter Gittens turned what looked like an intriguing matchup of wings/posts with Central senior Raymond Johnson into a personal showcase. Gittens erupted for 32 points in a hyper-efficient way (11-16 shooting, 5-8 from 3). The Bobcats’ only way to cope with Gittens was to send him to the foul line (5-11). Plus, he punished Central for sending help with 5 assists, often to a three-point shooter.
PLAY OF THE NIGHT
Again it was Gittens. After scoring a layup on a pretty high-low feed that transitioned into a give and go from senior forward Dalton Graham (who led Sunrise Mountain with 8 rebounds and 4 assists), Gittens ended the first half scoring with a two-handed dunk in the open court. That gave the Mustangs a 48-24 lead, and emphatically stated that this game was over.
THEY SAID IT
Sunrise Mountain coach Gary Rath: "We've had two games in like 18 days, something like that. We've had great practices. I've never had a group that practiced as well as thid groups with this many practices this late in the year," Rath said. "Everybody's healthy and everybody's kind of found where their niche is."
"Is frustrating during the year when I feel like we have a reaccly good team and we have four losses in the region. But every game is a battle and ther isn't anything we haven't seen. Nobody moving forward can guard Carter any better than what we've seen this year," Rath said. "Our whole focus tonight was to defensive rebound."
On Giitens: "I think he's finally 100 percent healthy. He's starting to trust what we're trying to do and realizes if they try to help out guys are going to be open," Rath said.
Carter Gittens: "It hurt not being in the Open because all of us thought we shuld be. It happened and we've dealt with it. Our goal is to show everyone that we're not an 11 seed and that we can win 5A," Gittens said.
"The big thing was boxing (Johnson) out and making sure he doesn't he gets to the boards because that is what he does well," Gittens said.
"It helps out when my teammates are able to space the floor in the first half. And it helped me make open shots as well," Gittens said.
