Austin Green is a Master's student at the Cronkite School at ASU assigned to cover Brophy Prep for AZPreps365.com.

PHOENIX–Historically, especially in recent history, Brophy College Prep would have been playing the role of David in a state playoff quarterfinals matchup against Pinnacle. But on Wednesday, it was the No. 2 seeded Broncos (17-1) who had to flex their Goliath-sized depth and defense to stave off an upset bid from the No. 7 Pioneers (13-5). Brophy pulled away late in the fourth quarter, winning 63-48 and advancing to the 6A state semifinals despite a rough shooting night.

“When you can win games with your defense because the offense maybe isn't quite clicking in the way that you want it to or you're not knocking down as many shots as you hope to," Brophy coach Matt Hooten said, "at the end of the day, that's the sign of a team that's got a great chance to win deeper and deeper into the postseason. So that was huge for us.”

The Broncos needed every bit of that defensive effort to close out this one. After a rough past few seasons for Pinnacle, including a 36-point loss at Brophy on Feb. 5, the upstart Pioneers had in recent weeks finally started to resemble coach Charles Wilde’s powerhouse teams that won back-to-back 6A state championships in 2018 and 2019. 

That resemblance was on full display Wednesday, from the sweet outside shooting of junior guards Bryce Ford and Ashton Reece to the interior presence of junior center Deuce Robinson, who also channeled former Pioneer Spencer Rattler by playing the role of top college football recruit turned dual-sport basketball star. 

“This team never gives up,” Wilde said. “They could have given up, being down at halftime again, and they didn't.”

Robinson’s defense in the paint gave Brophy fits and was a huge catalyst in Pinnacle’s 14-4 run to open the third quarter. That run erased an eight-point halftime deficit and gave the Pioneers their first lead since the game’s opening minute. 

“[Deuce] just works his tail off,” Wilde said. “He does whatever he has to do. If he has to score, he can score inside… He plays great defense, rebounds, just gives us everything he has.”

That rally sparked plenty of noise from both Pinnacle’s bench and the sizable road contingent of parents and students while temporarily quieting Brophy’s packed-out student section on the other side of the court and forcing the Broncos to regroup.

“I was telling all my guys, ‘Stay calm,'" Brophy senior guard Miles Nash said. "'We've been here before, you don't need to lose your cool.'"

Sure enough, the relentless pressure of Hooten’s deep and talented Brophy defense finally broke Pinnacle late in the third quarter, swinging momentum squarely back to the Broncos. With his team down 35-31 and less than a minute remaining in the period, Brophy junior guard Connor Fitzgerald stole the Pinnacle inbounds pass for an easy bucket. 

Sophomore guard Braeden Speed then stole the next inbounds pass and floated an alley-oop to junior forward Arman Madi, who converted the game-tying layup. Fitzgerald then forced another turnover on the next inbounds play, getting the ball to Speed for another open layup. Brophy’s improbable 6-0 run gave the Broncos a 37-35 lead as time expired in the third quarter, whipping the home crowd–and that full-capacity student section–into a frenzy.

“Those guys stayed ready and credit to them,” Hooten said. “Fitz and [senior guard] Jacob [Dolasinski] came in… and obviously they played with great energy and their teammates were feeding off of them. So it was one of those things where we've talked about all season long, we've got a tremendous amount of depth.” 

Brophy parlayed that momentum into a 13-3 run to start the fourth, aided by a clutch three-pointer from senior guard Patrick Chew and buckets off turnovers from Nash and Dolasinski. That essentially put the game out of hand, as Nash converted seven of eight free throws in the game’s closing minutes to slam the door.

“As a team with a lot of experience," said Hooten, "that's gone through a lot and that understands how to win close games, we were able to take that experience and really use it tonight."

The Broncos’ defense was the only reason they were able to build a 24-16 halftime lead to begin with, as both teams struggled mightily to hit any shots outside the paint and even had trouble with seemingly routine layups early. But Brophy proved able to manufacture open looks and get a precious few to fall while Pinnacle’s offense committed several turnovers in the first half, flummoxed by Brophy’s long, athletic guards like Nash, Chew and Speed.

“We take huge pride in [our defense],” Nash said. “Coach has been preaching it all year. I think we're starting to realize how much it matters in times like this because tonight that was the difference between a win and a loss.”

Nash and Chew led the way for Brophy on offense with 17 and 15 points, respectively, despite forgettable shooting performances. Pinnacle’s guard duo of Ford and Reese combined for 40 points in the loss, the former with a game-high 23 and the latter with 17.

The Broncos will face a much tougher test on Friday as they host No. 3 Perry in the 6A semifinals. The Pumas, led by star senior center and four-star University of Arizona signee Dylan Anderson, are fresh off a dominating quarterfinals win over Basha on Wednesday.