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March 28, 2024

high school basketball:

Clark hangs on to beat Desert Pines in state championship game rematch

2016 Las Vegas Sun HS Basketball Media Day

Christopher DeVargas

Clark High School Boys Basketball, from left, Jalen Hill, Ian Alexander, James Bridges, Antwon Jackson, Trey Woodbury and Sedrick Hammonds participate in the Las Vegas Sun Media Day at The South Point, Wed Nov. 16, 2016.

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Las Vegas Sun's Ray Brewer, Case Keefer and Jesse Granger preview Saturday's slate of big high school basketball games at the Big City Showdown, headlined by Findlay Prep vs. Bishop Gorman.

Jalen Hill made sure the Clark High basketball team didn't squander this lead.

Desert Pines rallied to cut Clark's double-digit advantage to only six points in the game’s final minutes Saturday at the South Point Arena in the Big City Showdown. That's when Hill answered, knocking down a soaring floater in the lane.

Desert Pines then cut the lead to five with only 22 seconds left, and again Hill answered — breaking away from the defense for a dunk that slammed the door shut on the Desert Pines comeback.

Hill, just a sophomore, scored a game-high 19 points to lead Clark to a 58-56 win in a rematch of last season's 3A state championship game.

“It was great and we had fun out here,” Hill said. “I just tried to step up, and turn the faucet all the way on.”

With the Chargers’ leading scorer Trey Woodbury struggling to a scoreless first half, Hill stepped up and carried Clark to a 24-14 lead at halftime.

“Jalen is a guy that we think the world of,” Clark coach Colin Darfour said. “He does so many things for us and a lot of it goes unnoticed. Jalen stepping up like that is a microcosm of what our team is. You can’t key on any one guy and you never know on any given night who will hurt you.”

Clark was assessed two technical fouls for dunking in pre-game warm ups, handing Desert Pines a 3-0 lead before the game even started. But the Chargers defense smothered the Jaguars, holding them to only four more points through the first 12 minutes to jump out to a 21-7 lead.

“Our defense comes in waves,” Darfour said. “There’s times where we play stellar defense and then there’s times where it seems like we’re just letting people score. We just have to find a way to play defense consistently.”

Desert Pines stormed back in the second half behind senior point guard Capri Uzan.

“(Uzan) is super quick and hard to guard because he’s so small and gets his shot off super fast,” Hill said.

Uzan scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half, including four 3-pointers.

“I’ve been trying to defend him as a coach for the past three years and he’s just a tough kid,” Darfour said. “He is a true competitor.”

James Bridges pitched in 15 points for Clark, which moved to 17-3 with the win. The game was part of the Big City Showdown in the 4,600-seat South Point Arena.

“I like this environment and the opportunity that it gives the kids to show the city what they’re made of,” Darfour said.

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