Fuller credits team, seniors for 23-win season
Corona 69
Brophy 54
By Erik T. Masingill ’12
THE ROUNDUP
The No. 9-seeded Broncos were never able to grab the lead in their quarterfinal game Tuesday, Feb. 21 against No. 1-seeded Corona del Sol and were eliminated with a 69-54 loss at ASU Wells Fargo Arena.
“I thought we didn’t play our best game,” said head coach Mr. Tony Fuller. “I didn’t think it had much to do with Corona. For some reason, we just weren’t all there, and it carried over, but Corona is a very good team.”
It took the Broncos four field goal attempts to score their first two points after Corona started the game with five points. After two made free throws by Robert Relf ’13, Brophy missed four consecutive shot attempts.
During that span, Corona scored eight points to gain a 13-4 lead. By the end of the first, the Aztecs led 23-14.
In the second quarter, the Broncos scored 11 points, six from center Tim Kempton ’13 and five from point guard Fred Gammage ’12.
The defense gave up 11 points as well to the Aztecs in the quarter.
Eleven points from both teams in the quarter led to a 34-25 halftime deficit for the Broncos.
In the third quarter, the Broncos missed 10 shots, but connected on four for eight points.
However, the Broncos’ deficit still grew to 44-33 at the end of the third.
Similar to the second-round Westview game, Brophy was able to score in the fourth quarter with 21 points. However, the Aztecs topped that to secure the win.
James Harper ’12 led the Broncos in the fourth with all of his eight total points.
When the Broncos sent the Aztecs to the free throw line, Corona made 13 of 15 free throws in the fourth to seal a 15-point victory and a trip to the semifinals against No. 5-seeded Desert Vista Thursday, Feb. 23 at Jobing.com Arena.
Gammage led the Broncos with 12 points. Relf finished second in scoring with 10 points, and Kempton added eight. The Broncos shot 13 for 19 on the free throw line.
Mr. Fuller said the biggest factor towards the loss was the lack of execution defensively.
As a result, the Aztecs improved to 30-1 overall while the Broncos finished the year with a 23-8 overall record.
Mr. Fuller also said this season did not pan out the way anybody believed it would.
“Great season; never a problem with anybody attitude-wise,” he said. “The guys played hard, they played together, they tried and won 23 games which no one thought we would do.”
“This was supposed to be a rebuilding year everybody thought, but we went 23-8, came in second place in our Thanksgiving tournament, we won our Christmas tournament and we made it to the elite 8 of Division I,” he said. “You can play a lot of seasons and not win 23 games, so I take my hat off to the group. I hate to lose these seniors because they did a magnificent job.”
With the elimination the five seniors, Jordan Medl ’12, Gammage, Harper, Greg Patten ’12 and Garron Scoon ’12 have finished their Brophy basketball careers.
Mr. Fuller said the seniors helped notify the public about basketball becoming a strong sport at Brophy.
“I think Brophy has been known as a football school,” he said. “Football, swimming, tennis and not really known for being a basketball school. Now I go around different places in the Valley, and people talk about Brophy basketball, so that’s a credit to them. They kind have turned that tide a little bit.”
