By Mark Carlisle
Twitter: @mwcarlisle

No. 2 Ironwood powered past region No. 6 Phoenix Sunnyslope 60-50 with a 14-0 run in the second half to win the 5A semifinal Thursday night at Ironwood High in Glendale.

The Eagles advance to their first state championship appearance, facing No. 1 Goodyear Millennium at 8 p.m. Monday in at ASU’s Desert Financial Arena in Tempe.

“I’m very excited for our guys. They’ve earned it,” said Ironwood coach Jordan Augustine over a roaring post-game crowd inside the home gym. “They’ve worked their butts off out here. Beating Sunnyslope means something, so to get us to this spot and then have to go through Sunnyslope, I’m very, very proud of our guys. And I do think this is the most fun I’ve ever had winning a game.”

Senior guard Trent Hudgens put Ironwood (27-2) on his back offensively, especially in the first half where he scored 12 of the Eagles 23 points. Hudgens finished with 27 points on a stellar 10 of 13 shooting, including 3 of 4 from deep.

The game was neck-and-neck for most of the first three quarters. Sunnyslope (23-6) led 26-23 at half and the game was tied at 34 late in the third before the Eagles went on the game changing run to take full control 48-34.

Augustine said it was his team coming up with consistent stops that made the difference.

“We stuck with what we were doing early, and also we started making shots and they struggled… I think our offense kind of came to play a little bit more,” he said.

Sunnyslope’s shooting dropped from 52% (12 of 23) in the first half to 33% (9 of 27) in the second half. Ironwood’s shooting improved slightly, increasing from 38% (8 of 21) in the first half, to 41% (9 of 22) in the second half.

It seemed that the Eagles could do no wrong during their 14-0 stretch, and they made every aspect of the game difficult for the Vikings.

Juniors J.J. White and Bailon Black each forced steals. Senior forward David Teibo, at 6-foot-5, scrapped for tough rebounds against bigger Viking players, including 6-foot-10 junior center Carson Basham.

“David actually got a cramp from how hard he was playing. (He) was all over the glass,” Augustine said.

Basham led the Eagles with 13 points on 6 of 12 shooting. He also had three blocks on the defensive end.

Most of the Viking offense relied around posting up bigs like Basham, 6-foot-8 junior Grady Lewis and 6-foot-7 sophomore Elijah Saunders. The trio was efficient — a combined 10 of 18 on 2-pointers — but couldn’t score often enough to keep Sunnyslope in the game.

Sunnyslope struggled from 3, making 5 of 17 (29%). Star sophomore guard Oakland Fort had an inefficient shooting day, going 4 of 11 from the field. He finished with 11.

The Eagle offense relied on guards like Hudgens, Black and senior Dominic Gonzalez to drive into the lane for a layup or floater or passing the ball around the perimeter looking for an open 3. The Eagles went 7 of 19 (37%) from deep.

Ironwood’s top scorers besides Hudgens had bad shooting days. Gonzalez went 1 for 4 from the field, Black went 3 for 11 and White went 2 for 7. Gonzalez and Black each made up for it at the line, converting 6 of 6 and 7 of 10 free throws, respectively. White hit 1 of 2.

Black finished with 15 points, Gonzalez with 9 and White with 6, each at least 3 points below their season average. Hudgens made up for the difference, outscoring his season average by 8.5.

The Eagles good free throw shooting, a combined 19 for 26, didn’t give Sunnyslope any shot at a fourth-quarter comeback.

The biggest plays of the game were White knocking down a 3 in the corner while being fouled to stretch the lead to 6 at the end of the third quarter and Teibo rising up for a two-handed dunk late in the fourth to put the icing on the cake. Basham also had an open dunk for Sunnyslope shortly after on a well-run pick and roll.

Hudgens’ most impressive buckets were layups that came after shaking defenders first on a Euro step and then on a hesitation move that left his defender frozen.

These two teams became quite familiar with each other, finishing first and second in the Northwest Region. Sunnyslope won the first meeting in tournament play, but Ironwood took both section matchups, with the second victory coming in overtime. The Eagles took the season series 3-1 after winning the most important matchup Thursday.

Ironwood is also familiar with Millennium (24-5), after losing 60-59 to the Tigers in the second round of the playoffs last year.
Augustine said he would take 10 minutes after the final whistle Thursday night to enjoy the semifinal win before shifting his focus to Monday’s state championship game.

He said to beat Millennium, it will take “the best versions of ourselves. So, we’ve got to go toe-to-toe. We gotta be the best versions of us to give ourselves a chance of winning that one.”

The Ironwood gym was packed to capacity nearly an hour before the opening tip and the crowd was raucous all game long. Augustine said the people in the stand that meant the most to him were his former players who came back to watch their former teammates play.

“My favorite part about tonight is the number of alumni that are here, that are part of the foundation of what got us to this point,” Augustine said. “We’re not here if those guys don’t fight for culture every single day, and these guys are reaping the rewards of the dudes that came in here and fought for something bigger than themselves.”

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Daily Independent
@mwcarlisle

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Mark is passionate about accurately informing his readers to what is happening in their community. He also loves reading and writing about sports. Mark has worked for Independent Newsmedia for five years. He married his high school sweetheart, adopted a boxer mix, and awaits his first child.