By Don Ketchum

Sam Engler woke up on Saturday (Feb. 25), excited about the Division II state championship boys’ basketball game. He and his Peoria High teammates were facing Tucson Amphitheater at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

By early afternoon, the Panthers were an emotional bunch after Engler hit a layup on a perfect feed from point guard Dewayne Russell with five seconds left to lift Peoria to a 50-48 victory.

Engler, a senior who was a key player off the bench all season, was hopeful that his team would win, maybe on a last shot, “but I never thought it would be me. I never made a winning shot. This is the first one, and the best one, too.’’

Difficult to argue that one.

Peoria (27-3), the fourth seed, had to rally from a 26-12 halftime deficit.

Senior Lawrence Pierce also came up big in the last 2 ½ minutes. He scored six straight points, including a steal and layup and four free throws. He fouled out with 27.5 seconds left and had to watch nervously like all the other green-and-gold-clad Peoria faithful.

Third-seeded Amphi (30-4) kept after it, pulling to within a point on two free throws by Tim Derksen with 29.4 seconds left and a Derksen basket that tied it with 16.4 seconds left.

Peoria coach Michael Serwa considered several plays with the final possession, but knew that Amphi would try to press and getting the ball in Russell’s hands trumped everything else.

“He (Russell) went out and created. That’s what he has done all four years,’’ Serwa said.

“A great dish. Thanks, Dwayne,’’ Engler said.

Russell finished with 22 points, Pierce scored 15 and Goch Ajak had 10 rebounds.

Amphi had three players in double figures – Charles Benson (16), Derksen (13) and Tony Lillard (12).

Serwa was asked if his team was playing for two teams, after Peoria’s girls fell to Chandler Seton Catholic in a game that preceded the boys’ game. The girls’ game included a controversial ruling that went against Peoria.

“I feel bad for what happened to them. I know they can’t be happy. But I would hope there would be some joy for everybody about this (boys’ title). Today, we did something good for Peoria.’’