Following a fadeaway 3-pointer, Mesquite guard Kingdom Artis flashed three fingers in the face of Salpointe Catholic forward Majok Deng.
It was his answer to Deng’s reverse two-handed jam, which gave the host Lancers early momentum in Friday’s Class 4A state quarterfinal. Deng remembered what his brother, Lual, had told him before passing away on his 27th birthday last March.
“He used to tell me if someone does something on the other side, and puts it in your face, let it just motivate you,” Deng said. “I felt like everything he was doing was just fueling my fire.”
Deng and his teammates blitzed the visiting 12th-ranked Wildcats (14-15), leading by as many as 35 in an 83-55 victory. The fourth-ranked Lancers (27-2) responded to Artis’ lone 3-pointer with a 30-12 run to grab a 20-point lead before the break. Deng was everywhere, registering four steals, a chasedown block on Artis — the game’s leading scorer at 24 points — and scoring 16 points of his own while sitting most of the fourth quarter.
Jordan Gainey, Salpointe’s leading scorer, had five assists along with his team-leading 18 points off the bench, and point guard Evan Nelson sparked the Lancer’s 26-point second quarter with 12 of his 16 in the period.
Salpointe Lancers Guard, Jake Cioe, drives for a layup past Mesquite player Jordan Wollonghe. Salpointe Catholic defeat Mesquite 83-55 at Salpointe Catholic HS on Friday Feb. 15th, 2019, Tucson, Ariz.
On the other end, Salpointe’s extensive film work paid off against the Wildcats, who earned their first-ever state tournament victory, according to coach Carlos Artis, at No. 5 Peoria on Tuesday in overtime.
Lancers coach Jim Reynolds baited Mesquite into playing through its leading scorer, 6-foot-7 Edin Smjecanin, by guarding him with 6-3 Grant Weitman. As soon as Smjecanin received the ball, other Lancers rushed to trap him, resulting in eight points on 4 of 11 shooting.
Without him, Mesquite was limited to what Kingdom could create offensively and finished with its lowest scoring total in eight games.
“That guy is pretty crafty, Grant Weitman,” Reynolds said. “They ended up trying to really work the ball inside to [Smjecanin] and kind of focused on that. I don’t know if that got them out of their rhythm just trying to go to one place too often.”
Salpointe marches on to a semifinal date with Mike Bibby’s top-ranked Shadow Mountain, a rematch of last year’s state championship, at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 22 at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. The Lancers are eager to revenge last year’s crushing 83-79 loss, in which they led by as many as 22.
“I feel like it has taken me so long to beat Shadow Mountain,” Deng said. “And to beat Shadow Mountain you need a team. I give so much credit to this team. Every day we come to practice and our second team makes us work. You can tell from the tip that we want it more.”
