Corona, Pinnacle, Mtn. View win in Visitmesa.com trifecta

It was a little more than four hours of real time Thursday night, but it was real time well spent at the final three games of Day 3 of the 5th annual Visitmesa.com Basketball Challenge at Mesa Mountain View High School.

Led by the high-octane showdown between Corona del Sol and South Sioux City, Neb., a near upset by Red Mountain in its battle with rock solid Pinnacle and closed out by one 3-pointer outdoing another in Mountain View's narrow win over Desert Vista, fans and writers alike got their money's worth.

Let's start with Corona. Knowing the perimeter shooting prowess of South Sioux City, Corona del Sol found its football bigs -- Avery Moss and Andrus Peat -- the key factor in its 82-72 win over South Sioux City.

Moss, playing in just his third game this season after warding off a football injury, netted 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Seven of his boards were on the offensive end. Peat added 13 points and another five offensive boards. In fact Corona scored seven putback baskets in the first half, which propelled the 12-1 Aztecs to a 37-28 hafltime lead.

Corona ran into some trouble early in the second half as South Sioux City (5-1) forced some early turnovers and turned up its outside shooting a bit. Corona's lead was cut to  two (64-62) with just less than five minutes to play. Moss and Peat combined nine of Corona's next 12 points and finished off the two-time defending champs from Nebraska.

Corona del Sol's Calaen Robinson, an ASU signee, did his part with 24 points and seven assists. Strong first-half defense by Brian Siefker helped limit South Sioux City shooting guard Austin Groth to just two points prior to intermission. Groth got only three shots the first half. Groth finished strong with 14 points, but worked much harder for half the points (29) he registered on Wednesday.

South Sioux City point guard Mike Gesell, an Iowa signee, wasn't quite as sharp as he was with on Wednesday in all phases. Gesell finished with a game-high 36 points and has 70 points in two tourney games.

Corona del Sol will be put to the test on Friday in its final tournament game as it faces American Fork, Utah at 1:30 p.m. Corona and American Fork at two of three unbeaten teams in the tournament at 3-0. Corona del Sol will be without both Moss and Peat who are off to attend high-school all-star football games.

Pinnacle (14-1) got more than it bargained for from Red Mountain, but used a 20-6 run in the final six minutes to secure a 68-55 win over the underdog Mountain Lions.

Red Mountain led most of the first 26 minutes, doggedly clinging to as much as a seven-point lead. Pinnacle took over the final six minutes led by sophomore Dorian Pickens and junior Drew Bender. Pickens tallied 16 of his 22 points in the second half and Bender 10 of his 15. Pinnacle, which shot 52 percent from the field in its first tourney win and 61 percent in its second, cooled off to 33 percent in the first half as it trailed by four.

Red Mountain (13-4) got 16 points from sharp-shooting guard Logan Larsen, but the Mountain Lions were done in by the turnover discrepancy (20 to only 7 by Pinnacle). Red Mountain's 58 percent shooting in the first half, calmed to 39 percent in the second half. Red Mountain went without a field goal for better than four minutes while Pinnacle made its game-saving run.

Pinnacle, the other 3-0 team in the tournament along with Corona and American Fork, gets a shot at South Sioux City on Friday at noon in another strrong matchup.

In the finale of Day 3, Mountain View's Mitch Wallace capped a 17-point game with a game-winning 3 with 5.2 seconds left to give the host Toros a 53-52  victory over Desert Vista. Mountain View improves to 7-4 and Desert Vista is now 9-5.

Wallace made connected on five 3s in the game and that finale came with pressure in his face from Desert Vista's John Marshall. Wallace's trey came 18 seconds after Desert Vista's Danny Powell drained a 3 to put the Thunder in front for the final time, 52-50. Powell had a shot in the paint a few seconds earlier rejected by Mountain View's Cam Boone. Boone led Mountain View with 20 points.

Powell's long-jumper at the buzzer caromed off the rim. Powell had a brilliant night offensively with 29 points. Powell connected on 12of-17 field goals, including four 3s.

Desert Vista led in a slow-paced first half, 18-11, with 4:41 left before the half. Mountain View ran off the final 13 points of the half to lead 24-18. Wallace and Boone had nine points each in the half. All of Wallace's points were on threes.