In June, when almost no one was watching, Sunnyside High School’s boys basketball team almost lived on Interstate 10.
Coach Rob Harrison’s squad went 25-4 playing against Phoenix-area summer league competition, driving more than 2,500 miles (and racking up zero hotel points) in a commitment to challenge for a state championship.
Harrison, who has won 38 games in two Sunnyside seasons, returns four of five starters from a team that took No. 1 playoff seed Salpointe into overtime last season.
Now he is taking it a step further: Sunnyside has scheduled Chartiers Valley High School, a Pittsburgh-area powerhouse coached by Tim McConnell, father of UA senior point guard T.J. McConnell.
Chartiers Valley, 25-3 last year, is led by Matty McConnell, T.J.’s brother, who averaged 22 points a game as a junior, including one game of 45. The Sunnyside game will be played a night before the McConnells and the Colts attend the UA-Michigan game at McKale Center.
Sunnyside hasn’t been a factor in the state tournament since Dwight Rees coached the Blue Devils to a 29-0 state championship in 1993. Harrison appears to be on a similar path.
