Salpointe Tipoff Classic

Championship

Central 72, Cholla 61

Third Place

Chandler 75, Catalina Foothills 70 (3 OT)

 

All-Tournament Team

MVP: Famoun Miller, Central

Obi Megwa, Central

Nik Nehls, Catalina Foothills

Dakota Kordsiemon, Catalina Foothills

Lual Magot, Cholla

Klay Stall, Basha

 

Cholla found itself trailing 38-23 with 5:18 left in third quarter to Phoenix Central. The Chargers (4-1) had survived a few close calls in pool play at the Salpointe Tipoff Classic to make it to the exclusive Championship Bracket on Friday afternoon and Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Central (5-0) had little difficulty at the Chandler portion of the tournament but they got past Tucson Catalina Foothills 61-57 on Friday to set up the final against Cholla.

Central took their first lead over Cholla midway through the first quarter and never looked back until the opening moments of the fourth quarter where Ezikiel Alley scored eight of his team-high 18 points.

Down 47-36, Alley sank two free throws and Dyre Dean followed with a 3-pointer to make it 47-41 with 7:39 left in the game.  Central's Famoun Miller answered with a basket underneath but James Dominguez scored at the other end for Cholla.

Alley hit a 3-pointer and Cholla was only down 49-46 with 6:53 left but that was as close as they would get as Miller threw down two dunks to spark Central to 17-6 run to go back up 66-52 with 2:41 left.

Central would go on and capture the championship 72-61 to remain undefeated before their regular season begins.

Miller scored 15 points in the final and was named Tournament MVP. His teammate Obi Megwa scored a game-high 24 points and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team. Cholla's Lual Magot was also named to the All-Tournament team.

The game started a bit late thanks to a triple-overtime battle in the third-place game between Catalina Foothills (3-2) and Chandler (3-1). Regulation ended at 54-54 and the first OT ended at 61-61. Triple OT began at 66-66 before Chandler pulled it out 75-70.