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. ...
The game isn’t guaranteed to happen because the teams are no longer in the same league. Yet, it’s the one matchup that could define the Centennial High basketball team’s season.
The Gaels tore apart the Bulldogs from the inside, scoring nearly 80 percent of their points within the 12 feet between the free-throw line and the basket in a 78-52 victory.
Sometimes, coach knows best. When Centennial blew a fourth-quarter lead at Arbor View last December, its players were completely distraught. The Bulldogs couldn’t even think about the season ahead of them in the moment after losing to their neighboring archrival.
What a difference a half makes. The Centennial High basketball team led by just one point today at halftime against visiting Palo Verde in the Sunset Regional quarterfinals, struggling against the Panthers’ guard-heavy lineup. The Bulldogs dominated the second half, though, in outscoring Palo Verde by 29 points in what wound up be a convincing 79-49 victory to advance to Thursday’s regional semifinals.
Troy Brown Jr. couldn’t hold back his emotions. When he got off the phone Tuesday night with UNLV basketball coach Dave Rice, the Centennial High freshman was so overwhelmed with happiness he started crying. The 14-year-old point guard was offered a scholarship by the Rebels — the first of what should be many offers for the 6-foot-5 prospect.
Marcus Allen was named the Nevada’s Gatorade Player of the Year for basketball Thursday, but if you talk with the 6-foot-4 Centennial High senior guard, he’ll tell you something different. He considers Thursday’s announcement a team achievement.
Nobody expected an outcome this lopsided. Bishop Gorman High senior guard Trey Kennedy knew his team was comfortably ahead Friday against Centennial in the Division-I high school state basketball game at the Orleans Arena, but wasn’t closely following the score. Then, he looked up.
Marcus Allen often shoots 25 free throws in the Centennial High gym each morning before heading to class. Then, when the Bulldogs’ senior guard returns home, he’s back on the court working on his game. The experience paid off Thursday.
With the Centennial High basketball team trailing Valley Monday by 10 points midway through the second quarter of the state play-in game, several in the gym assumed a player with the last name Allen would be the one to step up. And, twins Marcus and Malcolm Allen eventually took over the game. But, at this junction of the game, the Bulldogs had help from an unlikely source.
Now that they’ve spent 104 minutes playing against each other at three different venues, the body of evidence is both expansive and conclusive. Bishop Gorman is a better basketball team than Centennial.
Khalil Thompson made Durango High’s BlazerDome look like his personal practice space, sinking eight of 12 three-point attempts to lead Centennial to an 80-70 victory over Arbor View.
At halftime, the game was playing out the way many thought it would. Centennial went on a substantial run in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead over a talented, but outgunned Durango team. That mentality changed after the Trail Blazers reeled off a big run of their own to start the second half.
When the referee tossed the jump ball Thursday night to start the second overtime between Bishop Gorman and visiting Centennial, the state’s unquestioned top high school basketball teams, you could have easily argued the game would never end. On this night, they were that evenly matched. One team would pull ahead, then the other would tie the game. Over and over again.