Spencer Durose is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Valley Christian High School for AZPreps365.com

An electrifying crowd could be heard Monday night at the Bradley Gym as the Valley Christian Trojans took on the Coolidge Bears. Both teams entered the night at 25-1, and with the Trojans beating out the Bears in last year's 3A state championship game, the intensity was at an all-time high.

Without their leading scorer, Luke Shaw, who went down with an ankle injury last Friday versus Gilbert Christian, the Trojans would find themselves defeated, 68-62, at the hands of a Coolidge team that has also had a fantastic year. 

Valley Christian head coach Greg Haagsma believes his team battled it out until the end, despite the loss.

“I don’t know if we can say that anything went wrong, it’s a really good team we played and it was a great game,” Haagsma said. “I think we ran out of gas, you know, missing Austin for a quarter and missing Luke. I don’t want to take anything away from them they’re a really good team and they’re very athletic, I thought we battled and did things as well as we could.”

Valley Christian got out to an early 9-3 lead with a pair of 3’s coming from sophomore forward Kyle Grier. He followed that up by splitting a pair of free throws, totaling a 7-point quarter. Grier would go on to finish the game with a team-high 17 points.

“We had a great team game,” Grier said. “I got hot early, hit a few 3’s, and my teammates found me. Just a tough loss and we’ll come back better next time.”

Despite Grier’s first quarter performance, the Trojans found themselves down 15-13 by the end of the period. 

Trouble would continue for the Trojans as captain Austin Wallace went down with an ankle injury halfway through the 2nd. He would later return for the second half. 

“It’s just like a bump in the road and we can learn from it [the game],” Wallace said. “In a few weeks, this wins not going to matter for them.”

A pair of late 3s, one by Grier and another from junior forward Jake Harrison, would tie the Trojans up with the Bears, 28-28, heading into the end of the half.

An action-packed 3rd quarter filled the gym as a Grant Woods dunk and seven straight points from Carson Grier would put the Trojans back up, 48-46, heading into the fourth. 

However, a 22-point fourth quarter from the Bears trio of Carlos Coronado, Dru Madrid, and Brayden Gant would ultimately be the downfall for the Trojans, scoring just 14 points and unable to keep up the pace. 

Wallace believes the team still has the same mindset going forward with just one regular season game ahead of them before playoffs. 

“We got the same mindset, we’re trying to win a title,” Wallace said. “This just showed us what we need to work on in the future.”

The Trojans will now look ahead to Florence, who they play later this week for their final regular season matchup of the year, before fully shifting focus onto playoffs.

Haagsma knows his squad is still very strong and believes this loss will help clear some things up before entering the state tournament. 

“I think it [the loss] helps us get better at some of the little things we do,” Haagsma said. “But overall, I think our guys battled and we know we can play with anybody.”