SUNRISE BOYS: Davis, Canyon Springs boys stay hot, stun Las Vegas

Jordan Davis played the role of scoring point guard for most of his career with the Canyon Springs boys basketball team.

The Northern Colorado-bound senior turned into a distributor Thursday.

Davis had 17 points and eight assists to spark Canyon Springs’ offense, and Channel Banks poured in 29 points as the Pioneers routed Las Vegas 79-62 in the semifinals of the Division I Sunrise Region tournament at Liberty.

The Pioneers (18-10), who lost to Las Vegas by 18 and 26 points during Northeast League play, meet Valley (26-3) at 7 p.m. Friday in the championship game. Canyon Springs is seeking its third consecutive region title.

“It’s a big turnaround for us,” said Canyon Springs coach Freddie Banks, who had a Jerry Tarkanian tribute towel draped over his shoulder for the entire game. “I told my team, ‘It’s one and done. You cannot relax on anyone. You’ve got to come out and play basketball.’ My kids really wanted it tonight.”

Maurice Hunter added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Kajuan Casey provided a lift off the bench with nine points for the Pioneers.

Las Vegas (21-8) trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half but cut Canyon Springs’ lead to 37-35 on a 3-pointer by Devon Colley with 4:48 remaining in the third quarter. That’s when Davis made three straight big plays to swing the momentum back in favor of the Pioneers.

First, Davis came up with a steal and scored on a layup before he found Hunter for an easy bucket that put Canyon Springs up by six points. On the next possession, Channel Banks dribbled out of a double-team in the corner to start a fast break and he hit Davis, who made a sweet spin move and then dumped it off to Greg Banks for a layup that put the Pioneers on top 43-35.

“Tonight, Jordan was in a zone,” Freddie Banks said. “Jordan played Jordan basketball. That was a big, crucial turnover for them for Jordan to go down and score. … That’s what a leader should do.”

Channel Banks had 15 points in the fourth quarter to help the Pioneers put away the game. He finished through contact to give Canyon Springs a 61-50 advantage and made three 3-pointers in the final 3:12 to help the Pioneers go up 77-56.

“I felt I needed to put my team on my back at one point in the game,” Channel Banks said. “My teammates kept feeding me and trusting me as the shooter I am, and I kept knocking them down. I just wanted to bring this home for the seniors because this is their last year.”

Patrick Savoy scored 23 points, all in the first three quarters, to keep Las Vegas in the game. Tyler Bey had 12 points, and Deshawn Weathers added 10 points for the Wildcats.

Bey picked up his second foul with 5:07 left in the first quarter and sat for the rest of the half. Canyon Springs took advantage, closing the first quarter on a 10-2 run.

Davis used a devastating crossover dribble to find Hunter for an easy layup that put the Pioneers on top 25-15, and Canyon Springs led 32-18 with 3:07 remaining in the second quarter.

Savoy then made one of his four 3-pointers and converted a four-point play with 2:33 left in the half as the Wildcats cut Canyon Springs lead to 35-28 at the break.

“We just came out with the mentality we’re not trying to go home right now,” Channel Banks said.

Valley 61, Coronado 50 — For 24 of the game’s 32 minutes, the Vikings struggled to much of anything. But those other eight minutes were something special.

Valley went on a 23-0 run that started late in the second quarter and lasted until the 2:39 mark of the third quarter, and held off the Cougars (17-5) in the other semifinal.

Cameron Burton had 24 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead the Vikings. Darrion Daniels added 12 points, four steals and three assists, and Nick Brannon finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Taveon Jackson had nine points and 12 rebounds as the Vikings’ starters did all the scoring.

Valley trailed 22-14 with 2:21 left in the second quarter but scored the final eight points of the half to go into the locker room tied at 22 despite missing 20 of its 26 first-half shots. Burton then had nine points during a 15-0 run to open the third quarter, which put the Vikings on top 37-22.

“It’s all about our defense,” Valley coach Brian Farnsworth said. “Defensively, we turned it up a notch and that led to easy baskets offensively. … As long as we play defense like that, we’ll play a lot more basketball.”

Burton floated a pass to Shea Garland for an alley-oop dunk that gave Valley a 44-26 lead late in the third before the Cougars rallied in the fourth quarter. Jake DesJardins’ three-point play with 2:35 remaining cut Valley’s lead to 50-44, but the Vikings went 11-for-14 from the free-throw line in the final 2:33 to pull away.

Valley finished 25-for-32 at the foul line overall.

DesJardins had a team-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds. Nick Kornieck finished with 10 points and six rebounds, and Travis Boman notched seven points and eight boards for the Cougars.