Mesquite has interviewed prospective boys hoops coaching candidates and could choose a new coach by the end of the week, athletic director Jason Grantham said in an email.
The Wildcats have a vacancy because John Burns left for Basha last month.
Mesquite went 14-12 last season and missed the postseason. Burns was 27-26 in his two years as coach.
The Wildcats will lose their top four leading scorers to graduation. Sophomore Tre Myles (4.3 points, 2.1 rebounds) is the top returner.
 

Former Saguaro football standout Brock Haman is transferring to Arizona State from Arkansas, he said Saturday.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker chose the Razorbacks out of high school, but decided to leave after coach Bobby Petrino was fired for off-field transgressions.
Haman hurt his foot last season as a true freshman and redshirted, and will apply for a hardship to play right away because of the situation surrounding Petrino’s dismissal. Normal transfers have to sit out for a season, but Haman believes he may get to play because Petrino’s firing was not performance-related.
“I …

If Mesquite baseball was destined to lose on Tuesday night, coach Jeff Holland wasn’t about to go down sitting idly.
The Wildcats rallied for a 7-6 win by scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh, and it was Holland who pushed the envelope continually as his team rallied for the win. Here were his biggest decisions of the late innings:
- In the bottom of the sixth inning, Brad Holland hit a hard single to center field. Casey Howard was on second base as the tying run with two outs, and …

The St. Mary’s girls basketball team continues to pile up national honors.
The Knights will be presented with the Powerade Fab 50 trophy as the top girls basketball team in the nation on Friday at 12:30 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium. The Fab 50 is ESPN High School’s weekly ranking of the top-50 schools in the country, and St. Mary’s finished on top by virtue of its state championship and impressive display at the Nike Tournament of Champions in December.
The Knights went 30-0 this season, dominating Arizona competition throughout. Forward Chantel …

Division III baseball state tournament outlook
Tuesday’s games: No. 17 Camp Verde vs. No. 16 Snowflake, No. 24 Monument Valley vs. No. 9 Mingus, No. 21 Safford vs. No. 12 Thatcher, No. 20 Page vs. No. 13 Tombstone, No. 19 Northwest Christian vs. No. 14 Holbrook; No. 22 Combs vs. No. 11 Willcox; No. 23 Ganado vs. No. 10 Empire, No. 18 Morenci vs. No. 15 Fountain Hills.
Thursday’s games: 3:30 p.m. at Surprise Stadium — Monument Valley/Mingus vs. No. 8 Show Low; Empire/Ganado vs. No. 7 Window Rock; Thatcher/Safford vs. No. …

It wasn’t the smoothest road, but the Corona del Sol boys volleyball team navigated its way through the loser’s bracket and rallied to beat Deer Valley in the title match to win Mesa’s tournament on Saturday.
The Aztecs lost to Deer Valley to fall into the loser’s bracket and then beat Mountain Pointe, Mountain View and Mesa to set up the rematch. Corona del Sol lost the first game but won the final two for the hard-earned victory.
Corona del Sol coach Brynne Evans rested several of her starters at various points …

Former McClintock boys basketball star Cameron Forte is transferring from Texas Tech to Northern Arizona, he said.
Forte didn’t play as a freshman for the Red Raiders, but thinks he can make an impact at NAU. The Lumberjacks will be losing seven seniors after next year.
The 6-foot-6 forward said he connected well with new NAU coach Jack Murphy. Murphy is 32 years old, and Forte said he likes playing for younger coaches that can relate to him. Forte said McClintock coach Jase Coburn was one of his favorite coaches growing up, …

Former Desert Vista quarterback Cody Sokol turned an impressive stint at Scottsdale Community College into a scholarship to Iowa, and now multiple well-known East Valley signal callers are trying to do the same.
Former Notre Dame Prep quarterback Jordan Gehrke is already at the school and threw five touchdown passes in the program’s spring game on Friday, his dad, Ted, said.
Higley quarterback Eric Kump and former Paradise Valley quarterback Kevin Spain are also expected to compete for the starting spot next season, which was vacated by Sokol. Spain is transferring in …

The state tournament brackets are set, so it’s time to further dissect the baseball playoffs. Here is the primer that ran in the paper on Friday. However, the seeds weren’t set before our print deadline, so for all you loyal online readers here’s a more in-depth breakdown. As I said in the outlook, the randomness of the matchups is going to play a big role in how the playoffs play out, and that looks to be the case. Here are my thoughts on what will happen in the first two …

The club basketball scene is heating up, and for some local players, it has been a fruitful time. Many of the East Valley’s best went to Las Vegas last weekend and were seen by dozens of college coaches and national evaluators.
For most, this is the first time since last summer that college coaches have seen them play against the country’s elite competition.
Basha guard Jaron Hopkins has seen his recruiting interest pick up, as he has reportedly been offered scholarships by Arizona, Nebraska and Texas El-Paso in the past couple weeks. …