(Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

Forget the seedings. Forget the records. The Salpointe Lancers may be 15-15 on the year and seeded 11th but both of those facts are meaningless. The Lancers beat No. 2 Buckeye 80-75 in overtime on Saturday to advance to the 4A state championship game and it wasn’t an upset. Not even close.

Given up for dead by some after starting the season out 3-14, the Lancers are riding a 12-1 streak thanks in part to the emergence of sophomore Evan Nelson, the continued dominance of junior Majok Deng and a complete cast of role players who, quite frankly, know their roles.

“We laughed when everyone was down on us early,” Nelson said. “But we knew what we had and knew we would be here.”

Nelson scored 31 points in the win over Buckeye. It was the fourth time the guard has gone over 30 points since he became eligible to play due to a transfer from Marana Mountain View over the summer. His 25 points a game, combined with the 18 from Deng, fueled the resurgence and it was evident at the Grand Canyon University Arena on Saturday.

But Buckeye (24-6) is also for real. Junior Otis Frazier is literally throwing down 25 points a game and sophomore Tay Boothman is scoring 23. Throw in the 18 from senior Elias Anderson, and it’s easy to see how the Hawks earned a 2-seed.

Down 66-62 with 1:40 left in regulation, Deven Foster hit a bucket and was fouled with 13.1 seconds left and Frazier made two free throws to give the Hawks a 67-66 lead with 11 seconds left but Nelson made a free throw at the other end to send the game to overtime, tied 67-67.

Frazier had one of his massive dunks to put Buckeye up 71-69 with 2:13 left in overtime but Deng hit a 3 and was fouled. He made the free throw to make it 73-71 Salpointe but Boothman cut the lead down to 73-72 with a free throw of his own with 1:02 left.

Deng scored seven of his game-high 33 points down the stretch and Salpointe held on for the 80-75 win.

Deng had his 33 points, Nelson finished with 31 and Luc Rosenblatt had nine for Salpointe. Deng made six 3-pointers, Rosenblatt hit on three and Nelson two. Nelson pulled down 12 rebounds as did Deng.

Frazier scored 26 to lead Buckeye, Boothman had 16 and Anderson finished with 13. Adam Hamilton had 10 rebounds.

“This is hard to put into words,” said Salpointe head coach Jim Reynolds. “The guys hung in there and believed in themselves when others gave up on them and it was all of them from players one to 16. It’s easy to do this when you have the right guys on your team.”