On Saturday, March 7, the boys basketball team played at the 6A state championship at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum against Peoria’s Liberty High School. The final score of the game was 69-65: Liberty.

The team took a loss at the championship game after winning the 6A championship the past four years, but they still ended up finishing with an Arizona rank of 34 and the 3rd team in the region. 

Senior Jayden Cunningham states that the turning point of the game was later in the game, saying that it was “later in the third quarter, and early in the 4th, where we started to pick up a lot of momentum.”

Most of the players this year had never been to the championship before due to a lot of transfers. The environment was the most meaningful part of the game to them for this reason. Being able to play in that game as a varsity team member meant a lot to them at that time. However, a new environment is hard to play in. According to Cunningham, “Playing in a new environment was tough for some players. It’s a big stadium. We had to try to stay focused and attached as a team by trusting each other. 

Even though the game was very close, the team still lost to Peoria’s Liberty High School. What kept the team together was their ability to support each other as brothers. Instead of fighting, they lifted each other up and played as a team. 

Junior Kolby Barnes says that the loss affected him in multiple different ways, stating that it taught him to remember that “you’re going to win, you’re going to lose, but you just have to keep on playing hard.” 

This game was a combination of easy and difficult for the basketball team. Sophomore Dane Montague states, “Nothing was easy about the game, but the hardest part was staying composed and being able to fight back to get to some place we were at the end.”

When being asked what he would personally do differently if he were to play this game again, Barnes stated, “I would have started playing hard from the beginning instead of waiting and trying to catch the ball the whole game.”

At a varsity level, the whole team has to earn everything. Adding onto that statement, Cunningham states that “nothing comes easy for the team.”

The game ended with Liberty High School boys basketball winning the 6A Arizona championship in overtime over Perry. 

Overall, this game showed that the team was able to play the game, even if they didn’t finish it. They were still able to make it to the championships, and hopefully, according to Montague, “put in good goals for next year.”