Mesa  freshman guard Jakyi “Kyi Kyi” Miles led the way with 26 points as the Jackrabbits advanced to the 6A state championship with a 56-53 upset at #2 Liberty Lions (13-5, 4-4 6A Desert Valley) Wednesday night. 

Mesa, the #11 seed (12-6, 7-3 6A East Valley) won its second road game of the tournament, taking down the defending 6A champs.

While Miles had a great game it was Mesa’s senior guard Jarren Galarza who made the shot of the night. With less than a minute left, sophomore guard Daijon Grayson found a cutting Galarza who converted an and-one layup to put Mesa up six. 

“It felt great,” Galarza said. “Coach trusted and drew up the play for me and I executed.” 

In the final minute, Liberty was able to pull it back to a three-point game after senior wing Jackson Hunter converted an and-one of his own. 

With just seconds left on the clock, Liberty forced a steal and called a timeout to set up one final play. However, Mesa’s defense stood tall and made the final stop to survive and advance.

Now in his 11th season with Mesa, head coach Scott Stansberry is making his first trip to the state championship game. After losing their star senior forward John Petersen, Mesa hit a crossroads near the end of their season. 

Petersen has been named first-team all-region in back-to-back seasons and Stansberry said he was the glue guy for a roster full of young talent. His loss was felt immediately. 

Mesa dropped their final two regular season games to knock them out of the 32-team Open Divison playoff and place them in the 6A play in. 

“It sucked to drop out of the open because that is what we strive for,” Stansberry said. “But I think we took that week off to regroup and find answers to the production we lost when Petersen went down.”

On Wednesday night, Mesa got that production from everywhere. Sophomore forward Brig Bowden came out hot in the first quarter dropping a quick six points and sophomore guard Josh Stewart drilled some timely 3-pointers. 

In the other corner, Liberty’s chance at back-to-back state titles was ended, but not after a spirited defense. 

In the first half, Liberty’s junior guard T.J. Harris was blazing. Harris had 10 points which included two three pointers. Harris ended with 14 and Hunter led the Lions with 15. 

However, Miles was the star of the night. The 6-foot-4-inch guard sunk timely buckets over and over again. None were bigger than his shot clock beating three pointer to give Mesa a 53-50 lead with 1:57 left in regulation. 

“Before the game, I locked in and told myself that I must do everything I can to get my team to the state championship,” Miles said. 

Miles did just that, scoring seven of 10 Mesa points in the fourth quarter to propel them to the win. 

Mesa will figure out if the glass slipper fits on Saturday as they take on No. 5 Brophy Prep (10-8, 4-4 6A Central) in the 6A state final. 

“We are going to come out and play our hearts out, especially for these seniors, and go get the win,” Miles said.