No. 3 American Leadership Academy - Queen Creek (ALA-QC) held off No. 5 Sabino 54-42  to win the first state championship in program history and it came after a brief, yet emotional run to the top.

Ryan McCurdy led ALA-QC (25-7) to the semifinals in 2016 and Sabino knocked the Patriots out of the playoffs in the second round in 2017. On top of that, the program was not eligible for postseason play last year. Sabino (27-4) returned to the state final for the first time since a runner-up finish in 1993 and the rematch was in place.

To get back to the final day,, Pablo Gutierrez made a couple of the biggest plays in Sabercat history Friday night against Page in the semifinal round. The senior scored with 41.4 seconds left to cut the Sand Devils lead down to 50-48 and he followed that up with a steal and he scored to tie the game up with 22.5 seconds left. Gutierrez injured his wrist on the play and Nate Ridola made the free throw in his place to put the Sabercats up 51-50. Then, Cesar Saenz blocked a late 3-point attempt and was fouled. His two free throws provided the final 53-50 margin head coach Marty Roth needed to advance to the state final against ALA-QC.

Sabino took a 5-0 lead on ALA-QC Saturday night but the Sabercats went cold and didn’t score from 7:35 in the first to 6:33 in the second, giving the Patriots time to build a 13-5 lead. The Patriots went on to build an 18-10 lead with 5:47 left in the first half but Sabino went on a 7-2 run to cut the lead down to 20-17 only to have Tyler Holmes hit his second 3 of the game to put ALA-QC up 23-17 at the half.

The Patriots continued to score and took a 28-17 lead with 5:18 in the third but 3’s from Gutierrez and Ridola helped cut the lead down to 30-25 with 50.3 seconds left in the quarter. The Patriots scored five points in the last 24 seconds, however, to go back up 35-25.

Once again, Sabino cut into the lead, and the Patriots held on at 43-39 with 3:08 left, but the Sabercats were unable to cash in on defensive rebounds and turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions. Devon Brooke made six free throws and Dyson Lighthall hit four more and the Patriots held on for the 54-42 victory.

Brooke led ALA-QC with 17 points, Holmes added 14 and Lighthall had eight points and 13 rebounds. For Sabino, Gutierrez and Ridola scored 12 each. 

Sabino (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)