Gilbert High's plan of action against Dobson Friday night was to limit scoring opportunities for Dobson's 6-foot-5 forward Marcus Tipton. The Tigers did a good job of that themselves the first half. Tipton did that for Gilbert in the second half.

Using an 8-0 run in the final two minutes of the opening quarter, Gilbert grabbed control of the game and ran away midway through the third period to notch its sixth straight vicotory, a 62-45 triumph over Dobson in a Division I boys game at Gilbert High.

"I've seen Dobson enough that he becomes a monster if you let him catch it down low," Gilbert coach Jay Caserio said. "I though Erik Crawford did a great job guarding him. Crawford is 6-2 and what he does guarding other teams big players goes unnoticed."

Tipton made a three-point play in the opening period. He didn't  get a shot attempt in the second. When Tipton started to warm up in the low post  in the opening minutes of the third period (scoring sevenquick  points), he disappeared shortly thereafter.

Tipton was assessed two technical fouls in a matter of a few seconds and ejected with 4:11 left in the third period. An official ruled a jump ball rather than a foul when Tipton and a Gilbert player scrambled for a rebound.  Tipton slammed the ball down and was awarded technical No. 1. No. 2 came when he said something to the official. That ended his night.  Tipton won't be able to play in Dobson's next game on Tuesday against Red Mountain since his ejection carries a one-game suspension.

Dobson (16-8, 9-5 power-point games)  trailed 39-31 when Tipton was ejected. Gilbert's Austin Harper made three of four technical-foul free throws to bump the lead to 11. The margin was 52-37 when the third period finished.

"We did a poor job of getting the ball inside," Dobson coach Rick McConnell said. "It's something we want to do having Marcus. But we got away from it. We hurried some shots and didn't slow down to look inside. We threw some passes that weren't there. They took advantage of the turnovers and our impatience."

It was a very balanced scoring night for Gilbert (15-5, 11-2 ppg), which got 13 points from Cody Martin (11 in the first half), 11 from Austin Harper (all in the third period) and 11 off the bench from Conner Helvig. Four other players scored between five and nine points

Harper opened the third quarter with two threes that extended a 27-21 halftime lead to 33-21 less than a minute deep in theperiod. Defensively, Gilbert held Dobson without a field goal for an 11-minute stretch -- the last two minutes of the first period through the first 90 seconds of the third period.

 

Dobson was led by Kyle Tomlinson with 13 points and got 10 points each from Tipton and Kodi Justice.