With a little inspiration and a renewed focus after halftime, fourth-seed Mesa erased a lackluster first half against a dangerous city rival.

In the season opener on Monday night, Mesa boys basketball forward Felipe Velazco missed a 3-pointer which would have beaten Hamilton.

Mesa boys basketball coach Shane Burcar prefers his team use a controlled chaos to be effective.

The Mesa and Dobson boys basketball teams may have the best collections of elite talent in the state.

Rolando Rhymes called it "taking the air out of  the ball," and Mesa can attest to what Rhymes meant.

It’s hard to believe the high level of basketball played by Pinnacle and Mesa on Friday night was only a sectional semifinal game.

When it comes to contact between college basketball coaches and high school recruits, there are several starting and stopping points throughout the year.

Basha squeaked past Centennial (Nevada), 69-67, in the Southwest Rotary Classic at Cibola High School in Yuma on Friday.

The team portion of the boys basketball summer season has come to an end, as the players now split up and travel the nation with their club ball teams for the July evaluation period.

Rolando Rhymes fancies himself a Division I prospect once he leaves high school.

Salt River gradually pulled away in the second half Friday afternoon and defeated Seligman, 59-47, in a 1A girls basketball semifinal game at Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.

In his best-selling book "Outliers", author Malcolm Gladwell examines the relationship between elite Canadian hockey players and the disproportionate likelihood of their birthdays coming in January, February or March.

The last of the Division I boys basketball unbeatens fell last week when Laveen Cesar Chavez was beaten by Phoenix Carl Hayden.

The holiday boys basketball tournaments have wrapped up, and it’s time for the second half of the power points schedule. Before we move ahead, here is a look at the notable teams, players and moments from the first two months of the season:

Boys Soccer

There wasn’t much question about the best boys basketball team in Division I last year, as Corona del Sol finished the season on a 30-game winning streak and cruised past Laveen Cesar Chavez for the state championship.

Asaad Woods scored a game-high 19 points to lead No. 4 Mesa Mountain View to a narrow 48-44 victory over host Chandler Basha in a 5A-I Central region matchup.

OKLAHOMA CITY — As Kevin Durant watched his Oklahoma City teammates blow a 20-point fourth-quarter lead, he thought about lobbying to return to the game. Instead, he and coach Scott Brooks saw an opportunity for the Thunder's bench players to learn a valuable lesson.

Are you ready for some football? It’s about that time, as Desert Vista kicks off the season in the Sollenberger Classic on Saturday, and almost everyone else begins on Aug. 24. Here are the Tribune’s preseason rankings for every division:

Mountain Pointe (9-0, 5-0) vs. Marcos de Niza (9-0, 5-0)

The brackets are set. The bubbles have burst. The madness is set to begin. Take a look at all 65 NCAA Tournament teams.