Desert Pines advances to state behind Anthony Swift’s 21 points

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020 | 10:18 p.m.

Led by the inside-out duo of Anthony Swift and Milos Uzan, Desert Pines pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 74-55 win over Faith Lutheran in the Mountain Region championship game on Thursday.

The victory advances Desert Pines to the state semifinals in Reno next week.

Uzan, a sophomore point guard, scored six of his 17 points in the fourth quarter to help seal the Jaguars’ second trip to the state tournament in as many years.

“It feels good,” Uzan said. “Our goal is state and to win it all. This is a step closer to our goal.”

Desert Pines built a 34-30 lead at the half, and Uzan drilled a 3-pointer to make it 40-30 midway through the third quarter. Faith Lutheran guard Azavier Johnson scored eight of the Crusaders’ next 10 points to trim the deficit to 42-40, but Swift scored inside in the final minute to give Desert Pines a 48-42 advantage heading into the fourth.

Uzan tossed an alley-oop to Swift and the 6-foot-5 forward threw it down to extend DP’s lead to 56-44 with six minutes to play. Two minutes later, Uzan dribbled along the baseline and slipped through the Faith defense for a layup to make it 64-50. With a minute left, Dayshawn Wiley came up with a loose ball and dunked to push the lead to 73-55 and put an exclamation point on the win.

Swift praised his team for rising to the occasion.

“As soon as everybody started flowing, it was amazing,” Swift said. “We all realized what’s at stake here and we really had to lock in. We all bought in and did what we had to do to pull it out.”

Swift made 8-of-15 from the field and hit all five of his free throws, while Uzan connected on 4-of-9 from the field and 2-of-5 from 3-point range. The Jaguars also got a boost from guard Cimarron Conriquez, who knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half on his way to 11 points.

All of Swift’s points came in the paint, and the springy junior credited his teammates for putting him in position to pick apart the Faith Lutheran defense.

“I let my teammates create for me,” Swift said. “I have a great point guard and I have a great system around me, so it’s easy to score."

AZ Johnson, a junior guard, muscled his way to the basket repeatedly and paced Faith Lutheran with 20 points, while senior guard Jason Sims scored 15. The Crusaders will face a tough turnaround as they now head to the state play-in game on Friday (7:30 p.m. at Sierra Vista High).

After coming up short last year, Swift said Desert Pines is a determined team.

“We’re going to state with the same demeanor we’ve had all season,” he said. “We’re going to practice and work hard.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.