The Morning Blend
Welcome
Complete Media Kit
BISBEE — From the time guard Mario Galvez scored 16 points in this season’s opener against Valley Union to the time when he scored 19 points in a third-place game loss to Willcox in the East Region tournament on Saturday, he has been a dribble-driving force on Bisbee’s offense.
At 7 p.m. today at Ironwood High School in Glendale, East Region No. 4 seed Bisbee will play against North Region No. 1 seed Greyhills Academy in a first-round game in the Arizona Interscholastic Association Class 2A Boys State Basketball Tournament.
“We know they don’t have much size,” Galvez said. “They have a lot of speed. We’ll have to use our big men against them.”
The winner of today’s game will play at 7 p.m. on Saturday in the state quarterfinals, against the winner of East Region No. 2 seed Benson and North No. 3 seed Hopi. Saturday’s game site is yet to be determined, but it will be at a high school somewhere in the northwest Phoenix or Glendale area. The semifinals will be at 7 p.m. on Monday at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.
 Standout Bisbee junior Mario Galvez prepares with his teammates to go into the Class 2A boys basketball state tournament. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
Galvez is the team’s leading scorer at roughly 18 points per game.
“We just have to get focused on the game,” Galvez said. “No slacking off. We’ve got to come out with a lot of focus. If one person gives up, that’s when it all fails.”
This is the third straight season Bisbee has reached the boys basketball state tournament. Galvez will certainly have to be a factor in today’s game.
“He’s been a leader offensively,” Giltner said. “He’s a good rebounder, he plays with a good amount of toughness both offensively and defensively. If he doesn’t have a shot, he’ll give it up. He’ll dribble it and kick it out to another shooter.”
Galvez, a 16-year-old junior from Naco, is a first-year starter on the boys basketball team. He began his playing days at Naco Elementary School, as a first-grader, and is a pickup ball hound to this day.
Galvez also enjoys riding off-road vehicles across the United States-Mexico border line, and hanging out at the beach at places like Rocky Point, Mexico. His parents are Mario Galvez, Sr. of Sinaloa, Mexico and Talpa Galvez of Sonora, Mexico.
“I always wanted to be like Jordan, like Jason Williams,” Galvez said. “I wanted to be like them someday.”
The Pumas will take on a Greyhills Academy team that has won its last nine games in a row. The Fightin’ Knights are the No. 1 seed from the North Region and are 14-3.
“They’ve won a lot of close games, we’ve lost a lot of close games,” Giltner said. “They seem to be a lot like us. It should be a dogfight.”
Greyhills, a team from Tuba City about an hour-and-a-half northeast of Flagstaff, is led in scoring by senior center Willie Travis, who averages 16 points per game and has scored 33 points as a season-high. It runs a man-to-man, half-court defense a majority of the time. The Fightin’ Knights also run a motion offense.
Bisbee forwards Matt Metli and Chris Munsey must contain Travis from going off and scoring 20 points or more. Travis hits only 58 percent of his free throws, so that could be a secondary strategy to prevent easy inside buckets.
Bisbee, which last won a first-round game in 2003, last took on a team from the North Region in 2005, Camp Verde. The Pumas led that team by 10 points at halftime, only to lose, 54-51.
“The lesson is you can never relax for a second,” Giltner said. “I still think we haven’t played our best basketball yet, and I think the kids feel that way as well. I think they have that confidence.”
With the exception of Precision and Greyhills, the Pumas have played the other two No. 1 seeds in this year’s state bracket. Bisbee lost by two to South No. 1 seed San Carlos, and to Thatcher in overtime.
Eli wrote on Mar 26, 2008 10:33 AM:
your hommie eli. "