Brophy 65
Chandler 56

By Ian C. Beck ’12
THE ROUNDUP

Needing a win to seal their playoff birth, the Broncos followed senior John LaVanway ’10 to a 65-56 victory Thursday, Feb. 11 over the Chandler Wolves.

LaVanway had 11 points and nine rebounds along with a steal. Sai Tummala ’11 had six rebounds and 11 points of his own and Chris Pierre ’11 had a team-leading 13 points in addition to three rebounds and three steals.

Coming off back-to-back losses against Hamilton and Desert Vista, the Broncos responded in a big way and did not trail the entire game.

“I thought we bounced back very well,” said head coach Mr. Tony Fuller.

Brophy opened the game with a 14-6 run and saw their lead grow to 33-21 at halftime. After turning the ball over just twice in the first half, the Broncos had six turnovers in the second half.

They led 48-33 at the start of the fourth quarter but with 1:09 left in the game their lead shrunk to eight at 58-50. Chandler senior CJ Dickerson hit two three point shots to put Chandler back within 10.

Pierre was fouled on the ensuing possession and knocked down both of his free throws to put the lead back at a double digit mark.

Dickerson had eight points for Chandler and Desmond Floyd had 10 points and five rebounds.

After upsetting the No. 1 ranked Mesa several weeks earlier and beating their rival St. Mary’s as part of a five game winning streak, Brophy lost to Hamilton 57-48 at home then fell on the road to Desert Vista 59-33.

“We got caught up in the intoxication of so-called success after beating Mesa and St. Mary’s. We started thinking that we could just walk out and beat people and we were not that kind of team, we’re not there yet,” Mr. Fuller said.

It was senior night at Brophy and seniors Ryan Milne ’10, Michael Brennan ’10 and Jon Vimmerstedt ’10 all contributed in their final regular season game as a Bronco.

Milne added seven points, four rebounds and four steals, Brennan had three points and five rebounds and Vimmerstedt had  a pair of rebounds.

Teams are ranked by power points and the top 16 teams on that list are awarded playoff berths. Brophy ranks 13th in 5A-1 with 101.6667 power points as of Feb. 14, according to azcentral.com.