Coach Anthony Smith’s Palo Verde Titans won the 3A state boys basketball championship last week. At a school with steeply declining enrollment the last 20 years, it is a championship to embrace.
The Palo Verde Titans celebrate their victory against the Coolidge Bears in the 3A state championship game at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix on March 5, 2026.
When PVHS opened in 1962, it had about 2,500 students. There were so many students that the school had to operate a double-schedule; half the students attended classes in the morning, half in the afternoon. Now enrollment is listed at 730; Palo Verde competes in the 3A South against Safford, Thatcher and others with similar enrollment numbers.
Palo Verde began as a sports titan, winning three consecutive state swimming championships 1963-65, but since then had only won three more: Van Howe coached the Titans to a 13-0 record and 1973 state football title, Todd Mayfield coached the Titans to the 2005 state football championship and Jim Mentz coached PVHS to the 2014 state baseball title. That's it. That's what makes Palo Verde's 23-6 championship basketball season so special.
Palo Verde has produced a strong number of elite athletes: Mark Arneson and Jim Arneson played in the NFL. Jack Howell, Andy Hassler and Bob Lacey reached Major League Baseball. Basketball whiz Bryce Cotton has played in the NBA and is a six-time MVP of the Australian Pro Basketball League.
Now comes Smith's Titans, led by junior Rashad Ortiz, averaging 19.6 games as a junior, challenging Sahuaro's Cisco Llamas as Tucson's top player of 2025-26 in a year to remember.
