3A Boys State Championship Bracket

PHOENIX — Luke Shaw scored 34 points, Kyle Grier chipped in with a double-double and No. 1-seeded Valley Christian claimed its second straight 3A state title with a 65-44 win over Monument Valley on Saturday night.

“God blessed us with this great arena, and this great stage to come out and glorify Him and celebrate His grace,” said Shaw, who hit 10 of 23 from the field, including four 3-pointers.

“We came out with a game plan, and we executed, and everyone on this team wanted to win so bad, so we just put in the work to get here again,” Shaw said.

The 6-foot-2 junior was 10 of 11 from the charity stripe and grabbed 10 rebounds in front of 4,500 strong at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Most were wearing Mustang red.

The Trojans (30-2, 11-1 3A South Central) trailed 15-13 after the first quarter, but Monument Valley was outscored 52-29 the rest of the way, including a 17-8 spurt in the second quarter and they never recovered.

Valley Christian head coach Greg Haagsma said his club was well prepared to handle the challenge of playing in front of a large crowd.

“We’ve played great teams all year long. I think that’s how we prepared. We gave ourselves a really tough schedule,” Haagsma said.

Grier, who said the crowd was something to overcome Saturday as a team, also hit four 3-pointers for 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

“That’s a big crowd and they were loud. But we came out as a team and played well,” Grier said.

Perhaps the largest stat from Saturday’s championship game was 16, however.

That’s how many points Monument Valley standout Albrandon Byjoe was held to thanks to the stingy defense of Jake Harrison.

“We put our best defender all year, Jake [Harrison], on him. He’s been a dog. He took him out,” Grier said.

The Monument Valley senior averages 23.6 points per game this season.

Harrison said the coaching staff prepared him well for Saturday’s matchup with Byjoe.

“They said he always wants to go left, everything he creates is going left,” Harrison said. “So I just tried to force him right and see what happens.”

Byjoe dropped 40 on No. 3 Coolidge in Monument Valley’s 82-54 upset in Prescott Valley earlier this week.

“If anyone has 40 against Coolidge they have to be somewhat good, so I was a little nervous, but when I got in the game and they blew the whistle, I was good,” Harrison said.

Haagsma said he told Byjoe at the end of the game that he was the “best player in the tournament up until tonight, no doubt about it.”

“Harrison, I believe is 3A’s best defender,” Haagsma said.

Other standouts for Valley Christian included Austin Wallace, who scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds. Carson Grier had six points, eight rebounds and five assists.

For No. 6-seeded Monument Valley (27-4, 14-0 3A North), Byjoe had 16 points on 7 of 21 shooting, including a 2 for 13 mark from beyond the arc. He grabbed 10 rebounds and had three assists and three steals.

Roberto Flores, who averages 15.4 points per game, had nine points and seven rebounds.

Valley Christian has won three titles in the last five seasons, claiming the 2018-19 championship in 57-44 victory over Pusch Ridge. The Trojans beat Coolidge on this same floor a season ago to win the title, 61-56.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on Twitter @AzPreps365Brian. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.