Who would have thought?

Who would have thought that basketball fans would witness a few strange occurrences in Wednesday night’s (Jan. 16) boys game between Mesa Mountain View and host Scottsdale Desert Mountain?

Who would have thought that long-time Mountain View coach Gary Ernst would stand for the National Anthem and be standing again 2 ½ minutes into the game, questioning officials as to the reasoning behind his big man, 6-foot-9 post Payton Dastrup, being whistled for his second foul?

Who would have thought that Mountain View would be down 9-0 with Dastrup and then go on a 14-7 run without him to finish the first quarter once Ernst pulled him off the floor?

Who would have thought that when Dastrup would return to begin the third quarter, he would score his team’s first nine points?

But the biggest who would have thought came in the fourth quarter, when Desert Mountain outscored the Toros 17-2 to win going away 58-46.

“We knew we would have our hands full, that we would have to grind it out. It was not our best game,’’ said Desert Mountain coach Todd Fazio, whose team improved to 16-2.

He said the reason for the Wolves’ comeback was due to two things – they stepped up their defensive play, and some of their shots that were not falling earlier started to go in.

“We were getting good shots. They just weren’t going in earlier. Then they did,’’ Fazio said. “And our defense picked up. They (Mountain View)  shot well in the first half, but not as well in the second half.’’

With Dastrup out of the game, the Toros (12-8) worked their motion offense to near-perfection. They hit five 3-pointers in the first half.

When Dastrup was in the game, he worked most of the time on offense near the top of the key, where he could receive the ball, see the passing lanes better because of his height and get the ball to his teammates.

Dastrup, a junior, finished with 11 points, all in the second half. Only two other players scored after the break.

Desert Mountain guard Rolando Rhymes scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, including seven free throws.

Remy Smith hit a pair of big 3-pointers in the second half, and Brant Carter and Diego Magana each connected for one from behind the arc. Desert Mountain had eight such baskets for the game.