Mountain View boys basketball coach Gary Ernst is one win away from passing Tucson Sahuaro coach Dick McConnell for the most wins in Arizona history.
Both coaches have 774 wins.
The Toros will play Desert Mountain in the first round of the Division I, Section III tournament on Wednesday at Desert Mountain. Mountain View is the No. 2 seed and the favorite to win that game.
Ernst has the majority of his wins at Mountain View, where he took over in 1985. Ernst led the Toros to the 5A Division I state championship …

The boys basketball sectional tournaments begin Wednesday for the higher divisions, and some great matchups are on the horizon. Here is how I think the East Valley-centric Division I and II sectionals will shake out (with apologies to the lower divisions, which I didn’t see enough to make an educated guess).
Division I, Section II (at Mesquite)
First round: No. 1 Corona del Sol over No. 8 Dobson; No. 5 Gilbert over No. 4 Buena; No. 6 Red Mountain over No. 3 Ironwood Ridge; No. 2 Basha over No. 7 Hamilton.
Corona shouldn’t …

It’s the final go-round of regular season games for girls basketball. Everything wraps up Friday night and Sectionals from each Division begin next Tuesday, with semifinals set for Thursday night and championship games on Friday night, Feb. 10  (Division IV girls are Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday).
The top eight teams in each Section advance to the Sectional Tournament, which is single elimination. If a team wins its first game in the Sectional Tournament it should advance to the state tournament.
(All games are 7 p.m.  and records are PP games only through Monday).
Pinnacle at St. …

The dust still hasn’t completely settled from last weekend’s melee between the Mountain View and Skyline boys soccer teams.
The two schools played a regular season match on Saturday, where several red cards were issued to Skyline players (and a couple fans) from the early stages of the match. A red card is an automatic ejection from that match and subsequent one-match suspension.
With Mountain View leading 3-1 late, the match was eventually called by the officials with approximately 15 minutes left because red cards were prohibiting Skyline from fielding enough players.
That’s …

It’s the final week of the regular season as all final matches take place Thursday night. With the new division/section alignment, 9 automatic qualifying spots for the state tournament (top 3 in each section based on power points) and seven other at-large bids based on PP, it’s going to be a wild finish with many schools playing 2-3 matches this week, and a lot of really good teams will be left out to dry.
(All records are power point matches only as of Monday afternoon):
Notre Dame at Cactus Shadows (Monday); vs. …

A day late (and more than a dollar short these days), so apologies for being late with this Week in (Pre-)view of top girls basketball games this week as we hit the stretch run before sectional tournaments.  So without further ado let’s get to some jam-packed schedules……..
(All records are for power point games only through  Monday. All games at 7 p.m. unless noted otherwise):
Red Mountain at Hamilton (Tuesday):  It’s the No. 2 Lions (9-4) against No. 4 Hamilton (9-1) in a hecukva “freedom” game matchup. Backcourts will rule the show …

Mountain View boys basketball coach Gary Ernst returned to practice on Saturday and expects to be on the sidelines for the team’s next game on Wednesday against Desert Mountain, he said.
He missed three games last week because of a blood clot in his leg.
Ernst was on hand at the MLK Basketball Classic on Monday at Arizona State and had a parade of well-wishers check on him, including Basha coach Brad Pinter and ASU coach Herb Sendek.
Ernst said he originally felt pain in his calf during a timeout in a …

Mountain View forward Cam Boone is one of the more recognizable faces on the East Valley boys basketball scene. He has been on varsity since his sophomore season and helped lead the Toros to the 5A Division I championship game last year.
And while it’s the same player out there for Mountain View this year, Boone is showing off different facets of his game.
Listed at 6-foot-6, Boone is one of the taller players in the high school ranks. But he has signed to play with Grand Canyon next year, and will …

Not to be outdone there are some pretty good girl’s basketball matchups this week as power point play resumes in full swing.
(Records are power point games only as of Wednesday morning).
Mountain View at Red Mountain (Wednesday):  The Toros have been every bit as good as advertised so far, going 7-0 in power point games and good showings in a out-of-state tournament in California as well as the Nike Tournament of Champions. The Lions have won five consecutive power point games, and this will be its biggest test since a two-point …

The Mountain View boys basketball team didn’t look like it could repeat as state champions – or even make much of a playoff push – by the way it was playing earlier on this season.
The Toros opened the year with a loss to Laveen Betty Fairfax, and although they reeled off five straight wins from there, it was the margin of victory that set off alarm bells. Four points over Marcos de Niza. Four points over Westwood. Five over Desert Mountain.
However, after an impressive showing over five days in the …