Much like the last four seasons, it was never in doubt. But now, the future of its team and coach is very much up in the air.
Shadow Mountain (Phoenix), the nation's 13th-ranked team, captured their fourth consecutive Arizona state championship on Saturday, taking down Deer Valley (Glendale) 64-38 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association 4A title game.
Much like their regular season meeting that the Matadors won 75-52, the Skyhawks had no answer for Shadow Mountain, which jumped out to a 7-0 lead and stretched out to 33-17 by halftime. The Matadors used a stifling defense to increase the lead by 54-31 after three quarters while finishing the season 26-3.
Even after Grand Canyon pledge
Jovan Blacksher and Arizona State signee
Jaelen House went to the bench for what may be the final time in their high school careers with 7:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, the balanced group was still able to stretch the lead to as many as 31 points. The state's new mercy rule finished this thing quickly.
House finished with 15 points and five steals and Blacksher seven points and six assists in limited minutes.
The Matadors have now won 90 of their previous 91 meetings against in-state opponents dating back to February of 2015 after their 73-game win streak against Arizona opponents was snapped against Pinnacle (Phoenix) back in November.
One question remains in 2018-19. Will this group receive their third consecutive invitation to GEICO Nationals in April or has this special group played their last game together?
The
Matadors have quality wins over Belleville West (Belleville, Ill.),
Foothills Christian (El Cajon, Calif.), Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) and St.
Augustine (San Diego, Calif.), while currently projected as the five seed.
But if Shadow Mountain's season is over, does that mean the coaching career of 14-year NBA veteran Mike Bibby is done for the Matadors as well?
Mike Bibby has no trouble speaking his mind.
File photo by Randy Kemp
He's certainly brought nothing but success to the program, winning the program's first state
championship as a senior in 1996 and now winning the program's seventh
state title overall. Saturday's title was their fifth in the last six seasons.
Over the last four seasons, the Matadors are 105-11 with him as head coach. As a player, he
scored 3,002 career points (third in state history) and averaged 25 points per game during a four-year career from 1993-1996. He was the three-time state Player of the Year and averaged 34.3 points his senior season.
He made it quite clear to Richard Obert of the
Arizona Republic that he's looking upward and onward.
"I hope I move on to bigger and better things," he told Obert after Saturday's game. "I think we did good here. I think it's time for me to move on. I had dreams of being an NBA player. Now I want to be a coach. Hopefully, I can move up.
"College or NBA, it doesn't matter. I'd like to be a coach at the next level, whichever one it is."
Where the 40-year-old will end up is anyone's guess. But after he did some volunteer coaching last summer with the Memphis Grizzlies, his longtime connections to the NBA and the recent promotion of Penny Hardaway from the preps to the college ranks, it's a pretty good guess that Bibby will land someone other than Shadow Mountain next season.
Jaelen House scored 15 points in Saturday's state title win.
File photo by Randy Kemp
