Johnny Messiha is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover St. Mary's for AZPreps365.com

The St. Mary’s boys basketball team advanced to the AIA 4A semifinals on Friday night for the first time since 2009 by defeating Arcadia, 63-50, with a dominant fourth quarter performance.

The Knights, who have now won 15 consecutive games, will take on top-seeded Peoria at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Peoria.

The No. 4 Knights outscored the No. 5 Titans 20-11 in the fourth quarter behind 10 points from Keiren Brown, who led all scorers with 23 points. The Titans trailed St. Mary’s the entire second half but had cut the lead to four after a 6-0 run at the end of the third quarter.

Then the Knights took over the game.

“I just had to stay poised,” Brown said. “We had to make sure we didn’t fold under pressure. We just wanted to keep it going, keep our chemistry and poise and stay locked in.”

It started on the defensive end where the Knights (24-3, 11-0) forced seven of the Titans’ (23-6, 8-2) 12 turnovers in the fourth quarter. The Knights attempted to run in transition but were constantly fouled, sending them to the line for 16 free throws in the quarter. They made 12 of 16 attempts, while Arcadia made four out of seven free throws the entire game.

The Knights led 49-44 with 4:42 remaining before a 14-4 run that sent the St. Mary's  gym into a frenzy. The Knights held the Titans to 25% shooting and forced 4 turnovers in the final 4:42 that iced the game.

The Knights were fueled by momentum during this stretch, with the crowd exploding after several big buckets. One of these included sophomore guard Garrison Phelps  dunking over a defender on a fast break.

Although it only put two points on the board, Arcadia could not rally past the amped crowd.

“It was the atmosphere that got us energized and we were able to score off that,” Phelps said. “It’s amazing how our atmosphere is different than anyone else’s.”

The Knights’ energy on the defensive end clinched the win, but their effort in rebounding allowed them to control the pace. Phelps said St. Mary’s coach Damin Lopez  emphasized rebounding as a key point coming into the game. The Knights collected 12 offensive rebounds and only allowed five to Arcadia.

“Every game we’ve come into during the playoffs our game plan is to stop the ball on defense and get rebounds,” Phelps said. “Defense and rebounding has always been the main keys and offense will just come with that.”

Phelps added 10 points for the Knights and senior guard Deven Dahlke added 11.

“We preach it every day. We don’t have arrogant egos on this team,” Lopez said. “But we do have seven guys averaging nine points or more. When you have that kind of balance, it’s going to be someone different every night.”

With this win, the Knights ended Arcadia’s season for the second straight year, after a 62-45 win in the 2019 AIA round of 16.