Millennium’s banner winter high school sports season continued Monday when the school’s boys and girls basketball teams punched their tickets to championship games.

Oh, and in girls soccer, Millennium is one of two teams also left standing this season.

“It’s phenomenal to have three teams in the finals,” Millennium athletic director Remigio Gordillo said. “This started with the fall season with the girls winning volleyball. The football team made it to the quarterfinals.

“It’s an awesome time to be a (Millennium) Tiger. The campus is buzzing. The community is buzzing. The student athletes are working hard. The coaches are working hard. It’s paying off on the field and the court.”

Coach Cory Rojeck is one of those coaches punching the clock, pushing to finally bring home the big prize for the first time.

On Monday, Rojeck’s girls defeated fellow 5A Conference basketball newcomer Casteel 63-35 at Wells Fargo Arena, where Millennium’s boys defeated Apollo 72-61. One more victory, and the boys will end with the same record, 23-6, they finished with the first and last time Millennium won a championship (in 2008).

On Feb. 25 at Wells Fargo Arena, the Millennium's basketball teams will play against another program that is sending both of its teams to the finals and also nicknamed the Tigers, Gilbert High.

Millennium’s balanced attack — four players scored in double figures — and opening second half run keyed its victory against Apollo.

“At halftime coach just told us to keep playing like a team and not do anything out of the ordinary,” Millennium guard Justus Jackson said. “We pressured the ball well (at the start of the third quarter). It was really a team effort.”

Millennium led by as much as 21 point in the second half in a game in which Apollo’s second leading scorer, Paris Woods, didn’t score his first basket until 3:18 remained in the third quarter. Emmanuel Taban, who scored 14 of this 23 points in the second half and was the only Apollo player to score in double figures, also was somewhat quiet in the first half.

But Millennium didn’t start to break away until the third quarter, when it pushed its 30-25 halftime lead to 49-28 in the third quarter. Apollo (25-4) cut the lead to eight points three times, but that’s as close as the No. 3 seed got.

Millennium’s DaRon Holmes totaled 21 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots in front of a handful of college coaches in attendance. Grand Canyon’s Dan Majerle, Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley, Cal assistant and former Trevor Browne coach David Grace, and former Mesa High coach and current Northern Arizona assistant Shane Burcar had a front row seat during the 5A semifinal.

For the Millennium Lady Tigers, they grabbed control early and never seized it. Millennium’s experienced lineup faced a Casteel team with just one senior on its roster.

Casteel was outrebounded 45-29 but the No. 12 seed exceeded expectations this season. Sophomore Autymn Franks led 18-13 Casteel with 13 points.

Post player Ali Zelaya scored 22 and Dominique Phillips added 18 for Millennium (27-4), the No. 1 seed in 5A.

“This year at Millennium, we’ve turned it up a notch in sports,” Zelaya said. “Every team is like saying, ‘This is our year.’”

Millennium's bench celebrates near the end of Monday's game. Photo by Jose Garcia/azpreps365.com.