In what was only a two-point game at halftime in favor of Desert Vista at 22-20, quickly turned into a decisive advantage for the Thunder as the third quarter was pivotal in route to their 63-44 semifinal win over the Skyline Coyotes Thursday night.

Desert Vista turnovers in the opening quarter gave Skyline early confidence as the Coyotes found themselves only trailing by two at the end of the first at 13-11.

Both teams would continue to go back-and-forth in the second quarter as Skyline’s attack on the offensive and defensive boards created opportunity to keep it close.

The highlight of the second quarter would come in the closing minute as Desert Vista senior forward Osasere Ighodaro rocked the rim while being fouled, and would cap it off by making the free throw and giving the Thunder a 22-20 lead that they would take into the locker room at half.

The third quarter is where Desert Vista’s depth would come into play as they came out of the locker room ready to blow this game open, and that’s what they did. An 11-0 run midway through the third would turn a three-point lead into 14 as the Coyotes were faced with 38-24 deficit with 2:16 left in the period.

“Our coach told us to keep being unselfish and stop settling,” Ighodaro said. “Especially me. I was settling for a lot of jump shots and they weren’t falling, so I went to the rack and it worked out.”

It didn’t benefit the Coyotes that senior Tanner Poeschel, their main attacker on the boards and leading scorer, had three fouls heading into the quarter.

“We knew they had a short bench,” Thunder head coach Gino Crump said. “We knew they didn’t rotate a lot of players in so our idea was to really run them, really be physical and get them to go up and down as much as we could because they don’t have the depth we do.”

For Skyline, a team on a six-man rotation, the task already felt daunting but for Desert Vista it was the opportunity to overwhelm a growingly tired team.

The Thunder took a 42-26 lead into the final quarter and showed no signs of slowing down as the transition game began to bury any potential hope for the Coyotes.

Skyline would continue to battle despite the looming end to their State title run and season, the Coyotes would be outscored by only three in final quarter 21-18.

The Coyotes played Desert Vista tough, but the third quarter was the difference maker in the Thunder’s 63-44 semifinal win.

Ighodaro led the scoring for the Thunder with 17 as sophomore guard Andrew King added 15 of his own. For the Coyotes, Poeschel carried the torch with 19 points as senior Tyree Tyler contributed 15. The two combined for 34 of the teams 44 points.

Desert Vista, the No.1 seed, will meet No.11 Mountain Pointe in the 6A championship game set for 8 p.m. Tuesday night at ASU's Desert Financial Arena.

“It feels surreal,” junior power forward John Soloman said. “I’ve never made it this far, and in my junior year playing with this great group of guys, I’m excited.”

The Pride reserved their spot via a 70-52 win at Chandler high Thursday night. The championship game will be available via live webcast on behalf of NFHS Network.

“It’s back to the drawing board,” Crump said. “It’s not over. We've got one more. Three down, one to go.”