Talk to any coach just prior to the start of the 5A-I boys basketball tournament and most believed the tournament was wide open. The general comment:  the winner, which seemed to include as many as eight or nine contenders, would be the team that put together four solid games.

I think Mesa  Mountain View would qualify under that criterion. All the Toros did was vanquish four opponents by margins of 26 (Mesquite), 25 (Corona del Sol), 28  (Buena) and and 21 (Brophy). The game that was the toughest was against Corona in the quarterfinals where Mountain View was pressed for more than a half.

The capper was the 50-29 win over Brophy in the title game. Granted the pace of the Toros-Broncos game was much slower than Brophy's 96-82 win over Mesa the night before in the semfinals, but limiting a team to 29 points hadn't been done since 1957 when Camelback beat West, 33-29 in overtime. Obviously a time  when the game was much slower and there were no 3-point baskets. Moountain View allowed an average of  39 points a game in its four playoff games.

In a season where the title seemed up for grabs, it was astonishing to see one team emerge in such dominatiing fashion as Mountain View in winning its seventh title in the sport.  Quite a four-game run.