No Peat no problem, Perry cruises to the semis
#8 Ironwood from Glendale made the trip to play #1 Perry at Dan Serrano Gymnasium last night. Ironwood brought the crowd to the game, lots of parents and fans yelling at the refs all game from the Ironwood side. 5 star and McDonald's All American Koa Peat broke his hand in practice Tuesday and won't play for the rest of the Open Division playoffs. No Peat No Problem, Perry cruised past Ironwood with the score 67-45.
1st Quarter
Perry won the opening tip off and right out of the gate and Dominic Avalos settled for a quick bucket. Perry starts the game with a 7-0 lead. Carsyn Dean of Ironwood drives and draws a foul and heads to line for two free throws and nails both and puts Ironwood on the board. After 2 empty possessions from both teams Dean hits a three to make it 7-5 Perry. Bruce Branch III then responds back with a three pointer himself. After the 1st quarter, the score was 17-8 Perry. Deandre Harrison had 9 points
2nd Quarter
Both teams came out slow but Deandre Harrision started the 2nd quarter scoring with a huge slam and it got everyone going, especially the Perry student section. Ironwood really struggled to score inside the 3 point line. Anything towards the paint was either stolen away or the Pumas defense made a good stop. Josh Dillard and Landon Brownstein hit back to back 3s to get the Ironwood crowd going. Trey McKinney of Perry then settled for a quick layup but when Ironwood was on a roll, Brownstein hit another 3. Deandre settles for a quick basket before Dominic Avalos drives and draws a foul and gets to the free throw line, going on to hit both free throws. Steven Castro-Ryan drove to the lane and got fouled, went to the line, hit the 1st free throw, then Perry called a 30 second timeout, and Steven hit the 2nd free throw coming out of the timeout. At the end of the 2nd quarter and heading into halftime the score was 34-22 Perry
3rd Quarter
Perry started with the ball in the 2nd half and Harrison hit a quick basket. Josh Dillard came out of the half scoring 7 points for the Eagles giving them some momentum. Trey McKinney drove to the rim and drew a foul to get to the line and got 2 FTs to fall for the Pumas, but Ironwood called a 60 second timeout before McKinney headed to the line. McKinney missed both FTs for the Pumas. Even with no Koa Peat in the lineup the Pumas didn't seem lost. Defense was definitely a question heading into the game but it was no problem. To end the 3rd quarter, No No Brown drove through traffic and settled for a quick jumper at the buzzer to end the 3rd quarter with a score of 47-31 heading into the 4th.
4th Quarter
Perry started with the ball again in the 4th quarter. Deandre Harrison came out hot, hitting a quick 5 points right before Landon Brownstein banks a 3 point shot. Harrison took the game into his own hands driving down the lane and getting an and 1, hitting the free throw for the three point play. Carsyn Dean hit a 3 point shot before Deandre got back to it hitting 2 jumpers. If Deandre Harrison of Perry didn't have the ball Bruce Branch III or Dominic Avalos had the ball. Branch played a good game finishing the game with 13 points before fouling out with 3:35 left in the game. With a min left in the game Browstein hits another 3 for the eagles but there was no hope for the Eagles. The final score of the game was 67-45. Deandre Harrison of Perry led all scoring with 33 points, and it was followed with 13 points each from Dominic Avalos and Bruce Branch III. On the other side for the Eagles Landon Brownstein had 15 points, Carsyn Dean 8 points, and Josh Dillard 12 points. This Ironwood team is young and small, don't expect them to go anywhere they are losing 3 seniors. The Pumas will face #5 Sandra Day O’Connor on Wednesday at Chaparral High School.