Noah Maltzman is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Gilbert High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Gilbert Tigers beat the Skyline Coyotes 56-31 on their home court Thursday night.

Points came at a premium, as it was a hard-nosed defensive battle throughout.

The first half featured a lot of back-and-forth play, with Skyline forcing Gilbert to compete in the halfcourt.

“In the beginning, they slowed us down and gave us a tough time with their physicality,” said Gilbert head coach Jay Caserio. “They got the ball into the lane, got offensive rebounds, and won most of the 50-50 balls.”

Senior guard Nazir Richardson had the opening four points of the game and was stellar throughout. He saw the floor well, finishing with 12 points and several assists.

“At first, we came out kind of underestimating Skyline, and that's how they stuck with us in the first half,” said Richardson. “But after the team talked at halftime, we picked it up, and that's how we were able to pull away and get the victory.”

After the Gilbert coaches addressed the team at halftime, the players returned to the court determined to be assertive and utilize their keys to success.

“The halftime adjustments were mostly offensive,” said Gilbert assistant coach Scott Newendyke. “We stopped trying to pound the ball inside because they were overplaying their defense by collapsing after penetration.”

In the second half, Gilbert went to its “gold” set, which involves a trap action and a halfcourt press. This helped prevent Skyline from getting into its offense by pulling the Coyotes out of rhythm.

This set resulted in the play of the game when Richardson stole an east-west pass around midcourt, leading to an emphatic dunk that gave his team a 40-23 lead, the largest at the time.

Another outcome of these changes was forcing difficult shots and misses. The third quarter was by far the best defensive effort, with Gilbert holding Skyline to just three points. Every shot was highly contested or off-balance, and the Tigers also did a great job defending back cuts.

While Skyline excelled in post and weak-side help defense, the Coyotes often left the skip pass open, allowing Gilbert to get some open shots in the corners.

Part of the game plan for Gilbert was to neutralize Skyline point guard Jeremiah Cole.

Despite this preparation, Cole finished with 13 points by getting in the paint using a two-foot jump stop, followed by several controlled pivots to get open.

The leading scorer from the game was Jaelen Green, a senior captain for Gilbert, who had 15 points.

“This game was a learning lesson for our team, and it will help us later on in the season,” said Richardson.

The Tigers improved to 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.