Knights Win and Advance in State Opening Round

Phoenix - It may have taken a little bit longer than expected but in the end the Saint Mary's boys basketball team beat a pesky Notre Dame club 54-42 to advance to the 4A State Tournament Quarterfinals for the third year in a row. "We knew going in this wasn't going to be easy," said Damin Lopez, "everyone we play we are expecting them to play their best game possible and you have to hand it to Notre Dame, that's the best I've seen them play all year." 

Notre Dame started out hot from the perimeter making 5 of their first 6 three-point attempts to quickly jump out to a 18-6 lead. The Knights slowly chipped away at the lead by either forcing turnovers or getting defensive rebounds and then converting on the offensive end. "We didn't panic at all, they got off to a hot start which is what we've been preparing for," stated Jason Fontenet. 

Garrison Phelps kept the Knights rolling on the offensive side of the ball scoring 10 points to lead the Knights in the first half. The Saints finished with 6 three point buckets, and combined with their deliberate style of play, often times taking off 2 minutes of clock time, kept the Knights at bay. The Saints went into the half with a 29-26 lead. 

The third and fourth quarter the Knights turned up the heat defensively and began to click on cylinders offensively. Fontenet, Keiren Brown and Isaac Mendoza all hit 3's in the third quarter and the Knights began to take things over outscoring the Saints 19-7 in third and then adding to that in the fourth by outscoring them 12-6. "Obviously we are happy to get the win and move on. We didn't think this would be easy, we never saw Notre Dame as the 16th seed, we saw them as a top 10 team considering their ability to shoot the ball and be smart with how they approach the game," said Lopez. Fontenet led the Knights with 19 points, Phelps had 10, Brown and Phipps finished with 8 points each respectively.

The Knights will move on to play Bradshaw Mountain on Saturday, March 13th at 7 p.m. at Saint Mary's. The game will be live streamed on YouTube. Tickets will go on sale Thursday morning.

Upcoming:

Saturday, March 13th, 7 p.m. - State Quarterfinal vs. Bradshaw Mountain, live on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/4POcI-FdYE0