Amphi hits detour at Visitmesa.com with 2nd tourney loss

Amphitheater's second consecutive trip to the Visitmesa.com Basketball Challenge won't be as successful in terms of wins and losses as last year's was.

But then again last year's Arizona 4A Division II state champions haven't exactly been playing a mediocre lot out of the gate in this year's tourney.

After falling to 5A-I state quarterfinalist Corona del Sol on Tuesday night, 78-62, Amphi took on a well-rested and very sharp South Sioux City High (Neb) squad and wound up on the short end of an 84-65 decision Wednesday afternoon at Mesa Mountain View High School.

Amphi, which entered tourney play 11-1 and posted a 3-1 record in last year's tournament, is now 11-3. The Panthers aren't likely to see two better teams the rest of the season than Corona and South Sioux City, a state champion itself last year in Nebraska. Corona is 11-1 on the season and South Sioux City is 5-0.

South Sioux City jumped to an early lead  Wednesday and gradually built on it through the first 10 minutes of the second half (a 28-point lead on a couple occasions). South Sioux City scored a tournament-best 53 points (for a half )  in fashioning a 53-35 advantage at intermssion.

Amphi standout Tim Derksen, headed to the University of San Francisco next fall, did not score in the first half. He did manage eight rebounds. Derksen was more determined the second half and finished with a team-high 14 points. He also grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.

While Derksen's teammates did a good job picking up the scoring slack in the first half, Amphi was no match for the guard duo of Mike Gesell and Austin Groth. Gesell, a 6-2 senior and Groth, a 6-2 junior, connected for 34 points and 29 points, respectively. South Sioux City shot 62 percent from the field in the first half. South Sioux City made 13-of-28 3s for the game. Groth made 6-of-7 in the first half. Gesell and Groth combined were 10-for-15 from 3-point range. Gesell was also superb as a floor leader, handing out nine assists.

Amphi had three other players score in double figures -- center Charles Benson (12) and guards Yusuf Shehata (11) and Tony Lillard (10). Amphitheater's next game in the tournament is Thursday morning at 10:30 against Bartlett HS (Anchorge, Alaska). Bartlett  dropped its first two games of the tournament to Red Mountain and Corona del Sol.