Millennium left the worrying to others when player of the year candidate Cameron Holmes went to the bench midway through the first quarter with three fouls.

Armed with an assortment of weapons and a battle tested lineup, the Tigers proceeded to blitz past Notre Dame for a 65-38 neutral court win. To do so in the Open Division semifinals Wednesday at Chaparral against a team seeking to avenge a regular season loss was quite impressive.

The Tigers are proving that they can handle the pressures of the road. They did so last week at a tough spot, Sunnyslope, where they led wire-to-wire.

“To be able to do that (beat Sunnyslope), build these kids' confidence, and when we get Cameron Holmes to have a night like he does tonight and the other guys step up, that just shows that we are pretty good,” Millennium coach Ty Admundsen said.

The loss in last year’s 6A final has also hardened and motivated this season’s still young Tigers.

When Holmes exited the game and didn’t return in the first half, Millennium still excelled, closing the first quarter on a 13-0 run. The Tigers led 31-21 at halftime, but their shots weren’t falling as consistently as they would like.

They did, however, do the little things it takes to create some offense and keep advancing. In the first half, Millennium took three charges and a couple of steals led to transition baskets.

But the third period, when the Tiger scored 30 points, is when they really started run away and held Notre Dame’s high scoring offense to just one field goal.

It was Sabien Cain, Kingston Tosi and JT Admundsen’s turn to do most of the damage. Tosi, Millennium’s best low post threat, and the sharpshooter Cain each scored 19 points.

TJ, the coach’s son, may have had his best performance of the season and ignited his team’s third quarter outburst with three threes and a block that led to a Cain field goal in transition and Notre Dame (25-5) timeout. Millennium was up 38-23 after Cain’s basket despite Holmes not scoring a single point.

“Everybody knows that if one person gets in foul trouble everybody else has to pick it up,” Cain said. “We weren’t rattled. We just played the way we’re supposed to play.”

Do so one more time and Millennium (25-4) will become the first West Valley team to win a state championship in the highest Arizona Interscholastic Association basketball classification since 1997.