Richard Smith

West Valley Preps

In full flight, Paradise Honors basketball is a frightening sight for most of the rest of 2A.

Region rival Sedona Red Rock knew to avoid open-court play with the Panthers as much as possible. And it worked -  for a quarter.

Paradise Honors led Red Rock 10-7 after one Tuesday night. Then the Panthers kicked their press into gear and unloaded a barrage of layups, dunks and threes and led the Scorpions 46-14 at the half en route to a 74-40 rout.

"The first quarter, we ran down with the ball a lot and tried to make more rash decision. That's what they wanted us to do because they were all packed in," senior post Jared Perry said. "In the second quarter, we ran in transition and we put the game to our tempo. We were dominating the pace in the second quarter."

Red Rock arrived with a 6-2 record and the second-best resume of any team in the 2A Central. But if the opener was any indication, Paradise Honors (15-1, 10-0 regular season) is leagues ahead of them and most of the rest of the conference.

Coach Zach Hettel did not shy away from the importance of making a statement to start region play.

"We've talked about statement wins a lot lately. We went to the Cactus Shadows tourney and wanted to make a statement there against bigger schools," Hettel said. "We wanted to prove a point, that if you're going to win this region, you're coming through Surprise. We impose our will."

Senior guard Sohn Sims scored two layups off turnovers to expand the lead to 16-7. Brothers Ian and Jon Jackson accounted for the next eight points and a 26-10 Panthers advantage.

Senior guard J.J. Ramirez hit consecutive corner three-point shots. Then junior wing Josh Hawkins threw down a dunk and the crowd came unglued with a 34-10 lead.

Junior wing Joshua Hawkins sees a lane open up and prepares to drive to the basket Tuesday for Paradise Honors against Sedona Red Rock. After a pair of Scorpions free throws, junior guard Charlie Rogers scored eight points in less than a minute - including his own pair of corner treys. It was now 42-12 and the only doubt was the final score.

"I watched some film on them and they don't play many guys. They have one guy that comes off the bench that they'll run. Other than that, they want to play those main five as much as they can. We knew we wanted to turn up the tempo, which suits what we want to do anyways," Hettel said. "In the first quarter, the floor was bunched up a little. We inserted JJ and Charlie to see if we couldn't spread the floor a little bit and knock some shots down."

The lead expanded during the third quarter, though Paradise Honors hoops went through a scare. Sims went up for a layup, missed and landing awkwardly.

Perry laid the ball in but all the focus was on his fellow senior leader, who yelled in pain after hitting the ground. Thankfully, after the game, Sims was walking around and a repeat of his 2016 ACL injury seemed highly unlikely.

"I'm all right. It was just a little scare because it's happened before (though Hettel said this was the knee that did not have the ACL injury," Sims said after the game.

Senior forward Wyatt Gregson was the only Scorpions player in double figures, with 14 points, Senior forward Winston Cox added nine points and seven rebounds.

Conversely, 10 Panthers scored. Hawkins led with 14, and both Perry and Ian Jackson chipped in 10.

While no one else scored in double figures, five other members of the Paradise Honors squad had at least six points.

"Defensively, we did okay in that first quarter. We just needed to make shots and be smart on the offensive end," Hawkins said. "As soon as that first quarter ended, coach busted our butts and said in the second quarter we need to come out with intensity and be unselfish. When everybody gets shots and gets hot off the bench, I could care less about how many points I score. I just want to keep giving it to them."