Millennium boys, Amundsens join Millennium girls in finals

March 1, 2023 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365


Millennium coach Ty Amundsen chats with his boys after winning Wednesday's 5A state semifinal game. (Jose Garcia/azpreps365)

Last week, guard Mia Amundsen and her team booked their ticket to a final.

On Wednesday, her dad’s team clinched its own championship berth.

What a memorable basketball tour the Millennium Tigers and the Amundsens are on. Their next stop is Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the site of this winter season’s final title games.

Mia's Millennium team will play in the inaugural Open Division title game for girls on Saturday. On Friday, the Millennium boys, coached by Mia's dad, Ty, will participate in the 5A state championship game.

Ty also celebrated his team’s 60-57 home state semifinal victory Wednesday over Sunrise Mountain with his son, J.T. The sophomore guard is on Ty’s team, relishing the hoop and family ride as well.

Wednesday will also be remembered for the breakthrough performance of yet another young talent for Millennium, Kingston Tosi. The sophomore took over in the post in the second half for a Millennium squad that struggled from the outside after taking a 11-0 lead.

Tosi scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half on a variety of low post moves.

“I was just trying to be aggressive, and my teammates were finding me,” Tosi said. “I had a hot hand.”

The young Tigers—no seniors on the team—didn’t crumble in the clutch against a team with eight seniors.

But Sunrise Mountain (17-12) also deserves some praise for battling until the very end. 

Carter Gittens, Sunrise Mountain’s leading scorer, almost willed his team to victory. The 6-foot-6 senior with an inside and outside game hit a three with 1:52 left to cut Millennium’s lead to 58-54.

But on Millennium’s next trip down the court, sophomore Quincy Everson helped his team keep possession after directing the ball toward a teammate after a missed shot. That allowed the 6-foot-6 Tosi to score the final two points for his team.

But with 41.2 left, Gittens then sank another three, forcing Millennium to call a timeout leading 60-57 lead. When play resumed, Sunrise Mountain’s Austin Prey wound up stealing the ball from one of Arizona’s young stars this season, Cameron Holmes.

While on the floor, Prey passed the ball to Gittens, who proceeded to make yet another three. But Sunrise Mountain called a timeout before Gittens’ released the ball with 33.7 left, negating the game-tying three. 

In the waning seconds, Sunrise Mountain missed its last three shots, and J.T. and Everson rebounded two of those attempts.

“That timeout was tough,” Sunrise Mountain’s coach Gary Rath said. “But I thought they were going to call a travel.

“The experts didn’t expect us to get this far. But we knew we were good. We’ve been hurt or injured all year long. We didn’t get healthy until the final six weeks. That’s when we started playing our best ball. These kids have been great in practice. Those eight seniors have been with me since sixth grade. It’s tough.”

Despite trailing 11-0 early, Rath’s team rallied thanks in part to its 2-3 zone and guard Nick Nally’s 15 first half points.

By the end of the first quarter, Sunrise Mountain led 15-12 without Gittens scoring a point. The senior’s first basket was a dunk with 5:23 left in the second quarter.

His second basket, a putback at the 3:35 mark of the second quarter, handed Sunrise Mountain’s its biggest lead of the game, 29-20. But that set the stage for Tosi’ second half heroics to help send his team to the 5A final, where No. 2 seed Millennium (27-4) will play No. 1 seed Campo Verde.

“It’s emotional,” said Ty, holding back tears as he talked about heading to the finals with his son and daughter. “Them growing up. Fighting through everything that they want to fight through. Being a coach’s kid is not easy. They worked their tails off. They both deserve it. I’m super excited for them.”

Ty’s program will play for its first title since 2008.

Mia’s program is chasing its fifth consecutive state championship.

“I hope we win,” said Mia, a four-year varsity player. “That would be amazing for our family and for Millennium.”