Brophy continues its roll, sweeps Chandler

March 3, 2021 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Chandler's Carson Kelly is sandwiched by Brophy's Patrick Chew (12) and JP Musselmann as first half ends on Wednesday. (AzPreps365 photo)

Chandler High was prepared not to let Brophy dominate inside Wednesday night when the team convened at Chandler for back-to-back games as the basketball regular season nears its end.

Chandler coach Jon Rother lamented that on Tuesday night, Brophy scored 45 points in the paint and made a bunch of free throws (17 of 20) in falling to the Broncos, 69-54. The effort was there from the start by Chandler to prevent so much inside scoring. The Wolves' defense was appreciable better defending inside. Yet not enough.

Brophy played well in all phases and even managed to improve its free-throw shooting in the rematch in recording a 61-47 6A Premier Region triumph.

Brophy (14-5 overall, 5-2 region) remains as hot as any 6A team at present winning for the 11th time in its last 12 games. The Broncos are No. 4 in the 6A power rankings. Chandler (7-9, 2-6) lost its third game in a row, but at No. 12 in the power rankings should be able to hang in an qualify for the playoffs next week.

"This is the best shooting team I've had," Brophy coach Matt Hooten said. "We're shooting 40 percent from three and making 80 percent of our free throws. Our guys share the ball, move it and we often get good shots. 

"Chandler wasn't going to let us pound away inside. We kind of fell into the trap early of shooting threes and not working it. We got better at what we do best as the game went on."

Brophy has displayed a knack of not relying on one or two guys to carry the load on offense. More than a starting lineup of players has been a leading scorer in a game for the Broncos this season. On Wednesday their top scorers were Arman Madi (19 points) and Desi Burrage (15 points). In Tuesday's victory the point leaders were Miles Nash (18 points) and JP Musselmann (16 points). As mentioned earlier the free-throw shooting Wednesday was better than the 85 percent effort Tuesday. The Broncos connected on 23 of 24 (96 percent).

Chandler was in the midst of its best streak of the year before the last two nights - ( a five-game winning streak) - that included wins over region rivals Basha and Hamilton. Chandler played Wednesday without its second-leading scorer and inside force Nick Riley. Riley aggravated a knee injury the evening before. 

Senior guard Carson Kelly, the Wolves leading scorer and fills all categories in the box score, tallied a game-high 22 points. The Wolves managed to stay even after one quarter (11-all), but seven turnovers and only eight shot attempts in the second period forced them to play catch up the rest of the game.

Brophy led at half, 26-19, but didn't pull away until the first three minutes of the fourth quarter (51-41) with Musselmann scoring a pair of put backs and Madi sinking a three. The Broncos lead never dipped under double digits again.

Chandler finishes the regular season Thursday hosting Desert Vista. Brophy's final game is Friday at Perry.