Millennium, Perry firepower on display in Open boys HS basketball semifinal routs

When star Cameron Holmes went to the bench four minutes into Wednesday's Open Division basketball semifinal game, there was no panic from Goodyear Millennium.

Not when you've got Sabien Cain knocking down 3s, Kingston Tosi defending the rim, and three or four players coming off the bench to pick up any slack.

With Scottsdale Notre Dame leading 7-2 and Holmes coming out with three fouls, Millennium went on a 13-0 run the rest of the first quarter, cruising to a 65-38 rout that had a running clock in the final quarter at Scottsdale Chaparral.

No. 6 Millennium (24-4) beat No. 2-seed Notre Dame (25-4) 83-63 late in the regular season. Its toughest game in the tournament came last week, beating No. 3 Sunnyslope 56-50, after Tosi spent most of it on the bench after picking up his third foul late in the first quarter.

The Tigers are proving they have the deepest team in the state.

"Great team," Notre Dame coach Luke DallaRiva said. "One through nine, they probably have the deepest roster in the state."

No. 1 Perry up next for Millennium

Millennium has one more game to prove they are the best team in Arizona Interscholastic Association high school basketball.

That comes Saturday night at 8 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where they'll face top-seed Gilbert Perry (23-6), which pulled away in the second half with 6-foot-8 junior Koa Peat leading a 63-46 rout of No. 4 Chandler Basha (22-7) before an overflow crowd at Chaparral in the second semifinal game.

Peat, who is 2-0 in state finals in his career, had 35 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.

"Adversity hits and we came out strong," Peat said. "Defensively, we really set a tone and just rebounded."

Perry led 21-8 after a quarter, but Basha outscored Perry 16-4 in the second quarter to cut it to 25-24. Perry was settling for outside shots, lacked ball movement and got complacent in the quarter. But the ball movement was much better in the second half, when Don Tinsley, inserted in the lineup seven games ago, clamped down on point guard Mason Magee, which helped get the offense getting back in stride.

Peat credited the scout players for getting the team ready. He also had high praise for Tinsley's lock-down defense.

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"I was just trying to force him from the basket," said Tinsley, who played running back on the football team. "We wanted to deny him the shot."

Magee at times was able to get around Perry defenders for baskets. But Peat was usually there to clog lanes with his quick movement and long arms across the paint.

"In the second quarter, we got that 15-point lead and got very complacent," Perry coach Sam Duane Jr., said. "Our shot selection was poor."

In the second half, Peat still got the ball on top but was great at getting the ball to open teammates or drawing fouls. When Basha would send a second defender to try to stop him from getting to the rim, Peat would pass the ball off for an easy basket inside for a wide-open teammate.

NoNo Brown, Barron Silsby and D'Andre Harrison were mostly the beneficiaries of Basha's double teams on Peat.

"He makes basketball plays," Duane said of Peat. "He doesn't worry about his points. He just wants to win."

Sabien Cain is X factor in Millennium title hopes

Ever since Sabien Cain moved in from Indiana over the summer, it really opened Millennium's basketball team up, spacing the court, giving the Tigers another high-caliber player that teams have to defend.

He's not only a great 3-point shooter, but he's great at creating and getting the ball to open teammates and defending on the perimeter. He is one of the state's top on-ball defenders.

"I have to be a leader for my team," Cain said.

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This Millennium team has so many parts to it, opponents can't key on any one player. Freshman guard Adrian Higuera and sophomore wing Brayden Barrett come off the bench to keep Millennium sharp, attacking the basket for offensive rebounds, making steals, scoring.

In the third quarter, guard JT Amundsen, who facilitated in the first half, was left alone. He hit three 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the third quarter and it was over.

Millennium built a 52-26 lead that only grew.

A 3 by Tosi, three free throws by Cain after being fouled on a 3, another basket by Cain, and the lead was 59-26 with 1:10 left in the third.

Depth for Millennium

Cain had 19 points in three quarters. Tosi had 19 points. Quincy Everson had 10 points. And Amundsen, son of head coach Ty Amundsen, did his damage during a two-minute span in the third quarter.

"We talked about it all year, what the depth looks like," Ty Amundsen said. "You saw it tonight in one of the biggest games of the season.

"Notre Dame is so good and there's so many players we have to guard. Give it to our defense. To hold them to 38 points, they were tough as nails."

Tosi had a few big blocks as Anthony Batson Jr., tried to take the ball to the rim. Batson led the Saints with 14 difficult points. The Saints made just eight of 23 shots in the first half, but only trailed 31-22.

The Saints were held to just 16 points in the second half, as the Tigers outscored them 30-9 in the third quarter.

"Everybody else stepped up when I went down," Holmes said. "It reminded me of the Sunnyslope game. Kingston had fouls, as well. Everybody stepped up. That's why we're such a good team. We're a team first."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Millennium, Perry firepower on display in Open basketball semis routs