Vincent Deangelis is a Cronkite ASU journalism student assigned to cover Sunnyslope High School for AZPreps365.com

The Sunnyslope Vikings silenced the Brophy College Prep Broncos and their rambunctious crowd Friday night, winning 43-40 and denying the Broncos revenge from their 2021 6A boy’s basketball state championship semifinal loss.

It was the one-two punch of seniors Oakland Ford and Elijah Saunders that led the way for the Vikings, as the duo combined for 36 of the Vikings' 43 points. Junior Marcus Heatherly hit a three to take the lead for the reigning state champions late in the fourth quarter after being behind the entire second half. “It was a total team effort,” said Ford “Our guys really stepped up in the second half.” 

The game was a slugfest, with only 29 points scored combined in the first half and tremendous defense from both teams. “It was a grind, anytime you play Brophy they’re very well-coached so it was a battle,” said Vikings head coach Ray Portela. “We had some bad possessions, but we toughed it out.” 

The first quarter started off back and forth with both teams not giving an inch to each other. Both the home and away crowd were shouting at each other and at the players on the court so much it was hard to hear anything else. By the end of the quarter, Sunnyslope led 10-6 with Ford and Saunders scoring all the points for the Vikings in the quarter. 

Brophy's Crowd (Vincent Deangelis/AZPreps265.com)

However, the second quarter wasn’t so kind to the Vikings. Brophy took the lead and all the momentum three minutes into the quarter. The Broncos then proceeded to outscore Sunnyslope 7-2 in the rest of the quarter and go into the half leading by five. “We really just had to calm ourselves down,” said Ford. “They’re a great team, we were just turning the ball over too much.”.

When the teams returned after halftime, tensions were even higher, and instantly the game started to unravel. Even though the Broncos kept the lead for the entire quarter it seemed that the Vikings were on their tail the entire time, not letting them get more than seven points away from each other. Brophy’s Miles Nash and Jacob Dolasinski combined for eight points in the third quarter to help Brophy keep the lead 30-28 going into the fourth quarter.

The start of the fourth quarter was again the teams not giving each other an inch, grinding on every possession for points. Saunders hit a three to tie the game up for the first time since the first quarter about a minute and a half in. Ford then drew a foul on the next possession to regain a tie after Brophy scored. “Our chemistry and our bond is very special, I know it is to him too,” said Ford. “That’s my big bro.”  

With just under two minutes left in the game, the tide changed in the Vikings' favor with Heatherly hitting a clutch three to give the Vikings not only the lead but all the momentum. Ford hit a fastbreak layup a possession later to extend Sunnyslope’s lead to three. It was all defense from then on out for the Vikings as Ford forced a backcourt violation on the very next possession to give Sunnyslope the ball. 

The Vikings would take a foul up by three a minute later. Senior guard Dylan Heath drained his first free throw but his second one rimmed out. Bronco senior Patrick Chew grabbed the rebound and proceeded to commit a questionable traveling penalty to give the Vikings the ball and basically the game. The Vikings would go on to play some good defense and seal the contest. 

Brophy (2-1) took its first loss. Sunnyslope (2-0) takes on South Mountain (0-3) in a non-section bout in their next game and looks to stay undefeated on their quest for their second straight state championship. “We play South Mountain and then we play Centennial High School from Los Angeles," said Portela. "They’re tough. It’s going to be a challenge.”