A little bit of baseball and a little bit of football contributed to Phoenix Paradise Valley’s 48-33 boys basketball victory over Goodyear Desert Edge in the Division II semifinals on Wednesday (Feb. 20) at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

Fourth-seeded Paradise Valley pitched a shutout in the third quarter, keeping No. 12 Desert Edge off the board, 12-0, after an 18-18 tie at halftime.

And early in the fourth quarter, Ryan Finley, PV’s quarterback in football, fired a full court-length inbounds pass to Paul Watson for a “touchdown’’ to give the Trojans a 15-point lead.

Paradise Valley (24-7) moves on to the semifinals on Thursday (Feb. 21) at Jobing.com, facing either top-seeded Phoenix Sunnyslope  or No. 8 Tucson Sahuaro, which met later Wednesday night. Desert Edge finished at 19-10.

The Trojans went from a man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone in the third quarter, and that changed the complexion of the game.

“We wanted to force them to take bad shots, apply pressure, and make them turn the ball over,’’ said Watson, who led all scorers with 20 points.

Paradise Valley also had an advantage in height, and that allowed the Trojans to control the boards.

Watson scored 11 points in the second half, with 8 coming in the third quarter, including a 3-pointer.

Finley finished with 10 points, including six free throws in the second half.

“They (Desert Edge) were missing some shots. We went to the 1-3-1, and the fact that we are longer (taller) gave them some problems,’’ said PV coach Mark MacGowan.

“Our goal was to take care of the ball and control the boards, particularly in the second half.’’

Chazz Wade led Sierra Linda with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Elijah Marks had 12.