Canyon Springs wants berth in state title game

D’Quan Crockett knows first hand how tough it can be to play the Canyon Springs boys basketball team during the postseason.

While playing for Eldorado, Crockett’s sophomore and junior seasons ended at the hand of the Pioneers.

Now at Canyon Springs, the senior forward is eager to keep the team’s playoff momentum going as the Pioneers (19-10) open play in the Division I state tournament against Palo Verde (20-9) at 4:40 p.m. Friday at Orleans Arena. Bishop Gorman (25-6) plays Galena (24-6) in the other semifinal at 8.

“I’ve never been this far,” Crockett said. “All my high school years, I’ve lost to Canyon Springs in the first round. If you can’t beat them, join them.

“It’s amazing. I’m going to make the most of this opportunity, I’ll tell you that.”

The Pioneers have been making the most of their opportunities since the start of the playoffs, but that’s nothing new. Canyon Springs won its third consecutive Sunrise Region title last week. To do that, the Pioneers had to beat Las Vegas High and Valley in the final two games. Canyon Springs was 0-4 against those teams during the regular season.

“We always come to that area where we peak, and then we peak a little higher and we’re right there again,” Canyon Springs coach Freddie Banks said.

Senior guard Jordan Davis, is playing in his third state tournament. He joined the team right before the playoffs as a sophomore and helped an underachieving squad reach state. This year’s team had similar regular-season struggles, and Davis said a team meeting right before the playoffs helped spark the surge. The players each put something in a “Want Hat” to let teammates know how they wanted to close the season.

“People were saying they wanted better team chemistry, they wanted the state title, they wanted to become more of a family,” said Davis, who leads the Pioneers in scoring at 21.5 points. “And some people said they wanted the experience of the state game, so that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Crockett traces the team’s push to a key game, and key ideal earlier in the season. He said the Pioneers started telling themselves to “believe” before playing Findlay Prep on Feb. 2. Canyon Springs stunned the nationally ranked Pilots 60-59 that night.

“We were saying that we can really take this to another level, and if we believe in ourselves, nobody can stop us,” Crockett said.

He said the win over Findlay certainly gave the team a boost of confidence.

“It was very huge, because we can see that we can actually be a state championship team,” Crockett said. “It just gave us the confidence to say that we can really go out here and win without the fact that nobody wants us to win.”

Banks said another factor might have helped the team play better down the stretch. The Pioneers have 10 seniors, and they simply don’t want their basketball careers to end.

“I always let them know that once the clock goes to zero, your season is done,” Banks said. “We just put in a mindset that, hey, we’re not going to end the season and we just go out and play hard.”

Like Canyon Springs, Palo Verde is a surprise entrant in the state tournament. The Panthers upset Centennial in the Sunset Region semifinals, then knocked off Valley in the play-in game to earn the final berth in the tournament.

“I feel like a lot of people, just like us, counted Palo Verde out,” Davis said. “And they’re proving everybody wrong like we have.”

Davis hopes he and his teammates silence more doubters this week and capture their first state title since 2011.

“It feels good, but we’re not finished,” Davis said. “Because a lot of people still feel like it was luck, it was a fluke. So we’ve still got to get the job done.”

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.