Wesley Harris needed some help Monday nighti if Desert Vista was going to subdue Ahwatukee rival Mountain Poiinte's upset bid.

Harris, a junior forward, scored 17 points in the first half and had he not, the Thunder might have been down more than five at intermission. Help arrived, however, in the second half from senior Caleb Simmons.

Simmons tallied all 11 of his points in the second half and was part of the final five points that lifted Desert Vista to a 62-59 win over Mountain Pointe in the 6A region opener for both schools at Desert Vista.

The game, which see-sawed with fairly large leads at times for both teams, settled into a tight battle the last six minutes. The game was tied at 57 with 2:45 to go after two free throws by Mountain Pointe guard Malik Salahuddin.

On the next possession, Simmons drew a foul and sanke both free throws to put Desert Vista up by two at the 2:35 mark. Noone scored  during the next two minutes as they exchanged missed shots and turnovers.

Desert Vista (5-1) gained possession with 49 seconds left and worked the ball around while Mountain Pointe pursued in half court. Simmons made a quick feed to Harris as he attacked the basket -- as he did all night. Harris scored and was fouled. He made the free throw and the lead was 62-57. Harris finished with a game-high 27. 

Mountain Pointe (7-4) got two free throws from Logan Matulis with 16.9 seconds left, but needed another possession to have a chance down 62-59. The Pride got that as the Thunder's Noah Baumann slipped in backcourt and was called for traveling with 15.3 seconds left.

Mountain Pointe worked the ball around after a timeout, but pretty good defense forced Salahuddin to force up a tough 3-point shot near the right corner that was short as time expired.

Mountain Pointe forged nine-point leads on a couple occasions in the first half. Desert Vista rallied from five down at halftme to a 50-43 advantage heading to the fourth quarter. Desert Vista took advantage of foul trouble by Matulis, who sat out nearly a quarter of the second half with four fouls. Matulis led Mountain Pointe with 15 points, Salahuddin added 13 and Rashie Hodge chipped in with 11.

Baumann, Desert Vista's top scorer coming into the contest, had a tough night. He finished with five points --all in the second half. He did snk a 3 in the final quarter that put the Thunder in front to stay. Baumann was 2-of-9 from the field.