By Richard Smith

West Valley Preps

While the chalk has prevailed in the 2A boys basketball bracket, it resulted in, arguably, the most intriguing final four in the state.

Defending champion Gilbert Christian is long gone. The remaining semifinalists — in order of seed, Pima, Paradise Honors, Whiteriver Alchesay and Scottsdale Rancho Solano Prep — have either never won the title, or in the case of Alchesay and Pima not hoisted the trophy in more than two decades.

And these four teams have not faced each other in any permutation this season. That all changes at noon Friday when No. 3 Whiteriver Alchesay ( 321) faces off against No. 2 Paradise Honors ( 28-1) at the Prescott Valley Event Center.

The Panthers have barely been challenged, other than a sevn- point loss to 4A quarterfinalist Cave Creek Cactus Shadows in a tournament. Coach Zach Hettel knows that all ends in the semifinals, against the 2017 runner-up — who is riding a 32-game winning streak.

“Alchesay is extremely tough. Not only does the Event Center in PrescottValley turn into their home gym for that hour and a half — these kids

can fly. They aren’t big, but man they get out in transition and have some snipers from deep,” Hettel stated in a text Feb. 17.

As the coach alluded, the Falcons will not be uncomfortable at the fast tempo the Panthers tend to dictate with their pressure defense and depth. Alchesay leading scorer Harley Upton ( 17.3 ppg, 5 rpg) is the team’s only true post.

Seniors Raekwon Cosay and San Juan Slick lead the Falcons’ fleet of guards.

The winner of this semifinal plays the winner of the Pima-Rancho Solano Prep in the 2A final at 5 p.m. Saturday in Prescott Valley.

This will be the Panthers’ first new challenge in a while. Regular season opponents Joy Christian ( 72- 30) and Sedona Red Rock (59- 41) fell in the first two rounds Feb. 16 and 17 in Prescott Valley.

“I think the atmosphere was definitely a welcomed change,” Hettel stated. “But knowing the teams allowed our guys to be able to just go play and game planning was fairly minute.”

Red Rock’s fourth crack at Paradise Honors was their most successful, though the Panthers grabbed a 3016 and never seriously were threatened.

Hettel said the Scorpions are a senior-laden team and played inspired.

“ Red Rock didn’t do anything different, but they were playing like a team that knew this could be their last game,” Hettel stated. “ We had seen those guys three other times so they weren’t going to show us anything different. Saturday was going to come down to who wanted it most. We weren’t as clean as we wanted to be, but we also went deep to our bench with about 4:30 left.”