Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Palo Verde shocks Centennial in Sunset Regional semifinals

Grant Dressler, Taylor Miller guide Panthers to upset of Bulldogs

High School Basketball Teams

Christopher DeVargas

Centennial High basketball players, from left, Garett Scheer, Troy Brown and Darrian Traylor.

Prep Sports Now

Surveying the postseason

Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Ray Brewer and Case Keefer return with a discussion on all three brackets commencing this week — the Sunrise region, the Sunset region and the Division 1-A Southern region.

Grant Dressler stuck to Troy Brown like superglue.

Nothing could possibly detach the Palo Verde senior from the Centennial sophomore at the top of the key in the final seconds of the first Sunset Regional semifinal Thursday evening at Arbor View High. The Panthers held a 79-76 lead and everyone in the gym knew Brown would take the decisive shot.

“I was just hoping he didn’t make it,” Dressler said. “He could have gotten to the basket maybe but I just wasn’t going to give him a game-trying three.”

Brown dribbled to the right, getting no separation from Dressler. He lifted anyway, launching an attempt over Dressler’s stretched-upright arms.

The ball didn’t even graze the rim, as Dressler’s defense against one of the top players in the country solidified a major upset. The Bulldogs’ winning streak against local opposition ended at 15 in a row.

For the first time in three years, Centennial won’t play in the regional finals. Palo Verde will face the winner of Bishop Gorman vs. Bonanza at 7 tomorrow at Arbor View for the Sunset championship.

“He’s really good and long,” Dressler said of Brown. “You’ve just got to stay in front of him, do the best you can and hope you win.”

Dressler, who primarily guarded Brown all night, won the first three quarters. He held Brown to just 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting.

Then Brown showed why he’s widely considered the top recruit in the nation for the class of 2017. He scored 13 points in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter to nearly wipe out a 16-point Palo Verde lead single-handedly.

Brown added one bucket on a contested fadeaway with 25 seconds to go, cutting Centennial’s deficit from 72-70.

“We were just praying that we’d hold on, hoping that we could get a stop and hit our free throws,” Palo Verde junior Taylor Miller said.

Ryan Vogelei — a junior who sparked the Panthers off the bench with seven points, seven rebounds and two steals — sunk both of his free throws before Dressler — who finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks — made one of two.

It was enough.

“To win against Centennial is a great feeling, great for the kids who played so hard,” Palo Verde coach Paul Sanchez said. “We did it the hard way but we came through in the clutch at the free-throw line.”

The Panthers were motivated by an 87-85 overtime loss to the rival Bulldogs in December. They never let Centennial build a lead of more than four points despite their status as decided underdogs.

In addition to limiting Brown for the first three quarters, the Panthers held UC Irvine-bound senior Darrian Traylor to 6-for-16 from the field. Traylor still managed to chip in 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Centennial had a one-point halftime lead largely because of senior Garrett Scheer, an Air Force commit who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

But Palo Verde made its move in the third quarter. The Panthers went on a 22-4 run after falling behind 32-28 highlighted by senior point guard Ja Morgan hitting two three-pointers.

Morgan had 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds, one of four Panthers’ to put up at least two touchdowns in points. Senior Connor Lemmon also recorded 14, with Miller accounting for a team-high 19.

“We knew that everyone was sleeping on us,” Miller said. “Everyone thought they would roll over us but we came in with a lot of confidence and really executed.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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