Perry baskeball offered a view of who is coming down the road in the first half while the squad's veteran presence owned the second half.

Freshman Dylan Anderson was lights out in the first half and senior Jalen Williams was flat unstoppable in the second as the duo willed Perry to a 66-55 victory over Deer Valley on Day 1 of the Visit Mesa Basketball Challenge on Wednesday at Mountain View High School.

Williams, a 6--3 guard headed to Santa Clara next fall,  took over the contest in the final eight minutes. He sank buckets back-to-back to tie the game a final time at 42 and gave Perry (10-4) the lead for good 44-42 with a finger roll in the lane with 7:10 to play. He scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in that pivotal stretch. He showed balance and uncanny moves and missed just one of the final eight shots took. At halftime, Williams struggled to net five points on 2 of 8 shooting from the field and the Pumas trailed, 30-27 to the 12-2 Skyhawks, who are one of the top teams in 4A. Williams usually connects on a handful of threes every outing, but none were on the menu in this one.

"He's a great player," Perry coach Sammy Duane Jr. said of Williams. "He's gotten better and better here. Some people really missed on him. He's going to do really well in the West Coast Conference. He  has a great basketball IQ, too."

Perry hung around in the first half thanks to the sharp-shooting of the 6-10 Anderson. Anderson connected on 7 of 9 shots in the 8 to 15-foot range. He finished with 21 points. Deer Valley led by as many as eight points in the first half with Johny Diaz, Brandon Savage and Malcolm Jackson teaming up for 24 of Deer Valley's 30 points. Diaz led Deer Valley with 18 points and Savage finished with 12.

"Dylan was hitting his shots and comfortable taking them," Duane said. "He played with a lot of confidence. He's only going to get stronger and better. We needed someone to step up with Jalen starting slow and missing Kyle (Patterson)." Patterson is out with an ankle injury suffered in a game last week against Basha.

OTHER EARLY GAMES FROM VISIT MESA

BROPHY PREP 64, RANCHO SOLANO 44: The Broncos (6-6) started fast and never looked back in topping the Mustangs (6-7) in the tournament's opening game. 

Guard Ryan Gilburne led Brophy with 14 points and 10 other teammates managed to tally. Brophy's depth - its strong suit - was on display as coach Matt Hooten isn't shy about using nine or 10 players on a given night. Jaden Cons and Ethan Smith added nine points each.

"We don't have two big scorers like we relied on last year," Hooten said. "But we manage with our depth to get what we need on the offensive end."

Brett Hardt and Kiimani Holt each scored 10 points for Rancho Solano.

CORONA DEL SOL 64, HIGLEY 43: The Aztecs (8-4) gradually pulled away late in the first half to lead by eight and went on to finish off the Knights (3-11).

A trio of Corona players scored in double figures - Eric Blackwell (16 points), Anthony Irvin  and Sha-vere Yarde contributed 12 points each. Jason Harris led Higley with 20 points,