Jayce Cicinelli is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Casteel High School for AZPreps365.com

Offense. Offense. Offense. The Casteel Colts ran away with the game at home to move on. 

The Colts were firing on all cylinders to start the game on a 13-0 run. After getting a first round bye, Casteel was fresh and determined to get the win as they won 60-46 against Apollo.

Casteel has had its best regular season record in school history. They came in as the two seed in the playoffs and Apollo who was the seventh seed in the 5A Conference playoffs. 

The Colts came in with a 21-6 record and a 9-1 record at home. They have been leaning on their loud crowd all season long giving them the energy and momentum that they needed.

Junior guard Amare King led the scoring early on with eight quick points and capping off the big opening run with a dunk. The Colts had the momentum early on and didn’t think twice about losing this game as the crowd was electric.

King has embraced being the floor general and being a vocal leader for the team. King was hustling all night long having multiple chase down blocks on the defensive end. 

“I trusted my teammates and made sure they were in the right spots,” King said. “It feels great to be able to make those momentum shift type of plays to give us a boost.”

Senior forward Aidan Schmidt also had a big first quarter himself with 13 points and finding any way he can to make the winning plays. Schmidt has been the team leading scorer all season and continued his brilliant year tonight.

“We wanted to keep it rolling at home like we have done all season,” Schmidt said. “We wanted to take advantage of that and be aggressive as much as I can.” 

Casteel was relentless on the offensive glass as well as forcing up highly contested shots as Apollo had a difficult time scoring early on. Apollo were struggling on shooting from the outside and down low as most of their early points came on free throws.

Senior center Kaelum Brown threw down two powerful dunks and was ruthless on the boards all night which was the key in second chance points for Casteel. Brown was the spark plug that the Colts needed in order to keep the game out of hand.

“I credit my teammates because without them I wouldn’t have gotten as many opportunities to get the ball,” Brown said. “They kept me energized and I knew what I had to do for the team.”

It was all Casteel in the first half leading 37-16 at half in full control. Apollo didn’t go away quietly as they brought full court pressure to open up the second half and kept it the rest of the game.

The Colts struggled to beat the pressure from the Apollo defenders for much of the second half which put a dent in their big lead. The turnovers were piling up, as Apollo had the momentum for much of the second half. 

Apollo had double Casteel’s points in the third quarter as they decided to pass on the same formula Casteel gave to them in the first half. Their defense was energetic, forcing up tough shots and scoring most of their points in the paint. 

Apollo tried to comeback, but they continued their struggles from downtown and the closest they could get the lead down to was 13 points. The Colts were able to beat the pressure toward the end of the game and outlast Apollo in the final minutes.

The team is led by head coach Aaron Windler who continues to lead his team in the right direction since taking over. Windler and the Colts knew getting fast starts in a playoff game are crucial, especially in front of your home crowd. 

“I thought we executed really well and got to our spots,” Windler said. “We beat their pressure for most of the game and knew we needed to get the game rolling early.”

Casteel will be at home again next week for the semifinals as they will host the three seed Canyon View next Wednesday, Feb. 28th. Casteel played on the road earlier this season against Canyon View back on Dec. 5th and won 58-50.

“Canyon View is a really great program and it will be a great battle,” Windler said. “They got a great player Denali McNeal, and we know we have to continue to show great effort next week.”