The first Nike Showdown tournament during Thanksgiving week at Millennium High School gave four West Valley teams, including the hosts, a chance to work their way into regular season form.
Two teams on the short list to make the final eight of Arizona’s inaugural boys basketball Open Division faced off in the finals Nov. 26 in the Tigers’ new gym.
Peoria played without star Drew Camacho, who averaged 32.7 points in the Panthers’ first three tournament games. Yet the Panthers gave Millennium all they wanted for three quarters before the Tigers pulled away for a 59-50 win, despite Peoria sophomore wing Caden Bass’ game high 25 points.
“They’re a good team with or without Drew. We knew we had our hands full even though he wasn’t going to play,” Millennium coach Ty Amundsen said. "They’ve got some older guys that kind of manhandled us a bit on the rebounding side. Caden Bass has a really good game.”
Peoria looked comfortable without its four-year starter at point guard, jumping to a 10-0 lead and staying ahead 18-10 after a quarter. Millennium responded by hitting seven three-point shots in the second to grab a 35-34 halftime lead.
Bass scored six of the Panthers’ eight second quarter points in a sluggish third quarter to tie it at 42.
"Our starts were not good for the first two or three games and today we fixed that. From this game, it's great to have this experience ebcause it gives other guys opportunities to look at teams differently. The competition is super strong. We want to open the season with a tournament that is that way."
Five-star freshman prospect Cameron Holmes led the Tigers with 17 points and was named the tournament MVP. And he is far from the only young player Millennium relies on.
Sophomore guards JT Amundsen, Quincy Everson and Kingston Tosi, along with lone junior forward Donovan Franks. The bench is led by two freshmen and two sophomores, including 5-8 frosh Tristen Rhodes – who hit three treys off the bench.
Evenson then hit the decisive shots from distance. Millennium led 50-46 when the 6-2 guard knocked down back-to-back threes for a 10-point Tigers lead and breathing room.
“I think the better the competition, the better everybody played,” Amundsen said. “Three guys from Peoria fouled out today and yesterday four guys from Verrado did. Everybody’s trying to foul us, for some odd reason. We’re learning a lot right now.”
In addition to Camacho missing the game, fellow senior guard Calvin Windley fouled out in the third quarter.
The Panthers were less potent in the final, but stayed competitive. They have a plan for when their floor leader is unavailable.
“He was busy for a lot of the summer during recruiting events and leadership camps. With us resting him today to heal the ankle, that’s exactly what Calvin talked about to the team. We’ve done this all summer before. Here’s a great opportunity against a really good team in their gym,” Battillo said.
Camacho was not the only star missing Saturday’s action to make sure an injury does not get worse. Sunrise Mountain senior forward Carter Gittens sat out the Mustangs’ 56-30 win over Trivium Prep.
Gittens also did not play in a 35-32 home victory over Chaparral Monday to open the regular season.
Sunrise Mountain coach Gary Rath also thinks playing without his senior star can benefit his other players by forcing them to do more. But the 2-2 tournament, with losses to Millennium and Mountain Pointe, showed some areas improve regardless of the lineup.
“We’ve got to get better defensively and we’ve got to minimize our turnovers. Those were the two things that hurt us in our two losses. We couldn’t keep our guy in front of us,” Rath said.
First year Trivium Prep head coach Matthew Randle said he will take the experiences from this tournament over some routine wins over other small schools.
“For our kids, you don’t get this in 2A. You’re not going to get to play against a -star kid from Millennium. You’re not going to play against a tough team in Mountain Pointe from 6A, where they’ve been to two state championships in the last three years. Or you want play against Peoria, where it all kind of came together for us. We held the Camacho kid to 17 points. But we competed,” Randle said.
The Crimson Knights were 2A runners up in 2020 and the quarterfinals the last two years.
This tournament was one of two designed to get Trivium Prep ready for the elite small schools - like Rancho Solano Prep - come 2A tourney time.
“When we had our championship year, we played up we tried to go search out those teams,” Randle said. “We’ve been a top team in 2A for the last four years. Rancho is going to a tournament in Boston. We played in this and we’re also in the Damien Classic in California. They have 122 teams.”
