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Santa Rita's Terrell Stoglin has high hopes for a 4A-II state championship after falling in the title match the last two years.
David sanders / ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Don't miss these players
Terrell Stoglin, Santa Rita, G, Jr. Already noted as one of the finest guards in Tucson history, Stoglin — he averaged 22 points and 5.4 assists last year — is longing for a state championship after losing in the title game the last two years. He is the preseason favorite to repeat as the area's Player of the Year.
Lawrence Hampton, Ironwood Ridge, G, Jr. Blazing with the ball in his hands, Hampton transformed into a tempo-pushing force in driving the Nighthawks to the 5A-II state championship last year as a sophomore.
Aaron Anderson, Mountain View, F/C, Sr. Anderson (6 feet 6 inches) is a nearly automatic double-double, averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds in 2007. If Mountain View is to challenge Ironwood Ridge for the region crown, those numbers will need to grow.
Matt Korcheck, Sabino, F/C, Jr. An athletic 6-8 post presence, Korcheck owns the ability to elevate quickly (think many dunks). Already being scouted by Division I schools UC-Santa Barbara and the University of Portland.
Brandon Duliakas, Ironwood Ridge, C, Sr. A true center at 6-10, Duliakas should be seeing significant touches with Austin Smith departing for college. After another off-season under Peabody, Duliakas is primed for a breakout.
Don't miss these games
Ironwood Ridge @ Sierra Vista Buena, Jan.9. No region title implications on the line in this one. Just two of the area's premier 5Abasketball squads and coaches — Ironwood Ridge's Peabody and Buena's Dave Glasgow — facing off on what should be a high-scoring night.
Santa Rita @ Palo Verde, Jan. 13. See the city's top football recruit — Palo Verde's Adam Hall — take on Southern Arizona's prime hoops prospect — Stoglin — with the 4A-II Gila Region championship in the mix.
Sabino @ Cienega, Jan. 21. Cienega made a surprising unbeaten run through the Kino last winter. But the two-man tandem of Sabino's Korcheck — one of the area's top big men — and shooting guard John Lohmeier — a wide-bodied (6-4, 205-pounds) shooting guard with a smooth touch — will challenge the Bobcats' region supremacy.
Last year's regular-season region champions
Record in parentheses
4A-II Gila — Santa Rita (28-4, 12-0)
4A-I Kino — Cienega (23-8, 10-0)
4A-I Sonoran — Canyon del Oro (21-8, 8-0)
5A-II Southern — Ironwood Ridge (25-6, 5-1)
5A-I Southern — Sierra Vista Buena (23-7, 5-1)

high school sports

BOYS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PREVIEW

Additions to Eagles' roster may give Santa Rita edge for title run

By Casey Crowe
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.21.2008
Talent attracts talent.
That is definitely the case at Santa Rita, where the boys basketball program — the 4A-II state runners-up for a second straight year in 2008 — is welcoming the transfer of long-winged forward Andre Hatchett.
It is the second straight year that the Eagles have seen one of the area's premier players arrive at their doorstep; Darnell Shumpert — now on the roster at the UA — came north from Sahuarita during last year's off-season.
Main factors behind the shifts to the far East: an opportunity to play side-by-side with Division I-caliber point guard Terrell Stoglin, and under the tutelage of one of the area's most successful head coaches, Jim Ferguson.
Hatchett, who played his first three years at Mountain View, is an exceptional athlete at 6 feet 5 inches and should be the perfect running mate for Stoglin.
And the rangy guard/forward is not the only player in the city who competed for a different team last year that now finds himself in the Eagles' rotation. Roland Jones, formerly of Palo Verde, and Domonique Kelly, who used to be at Ironwood Ridge, are also now at Santa Rita.
"I'd like to think those guys are coming for my coaching, but playing with Terrell (Stoglin) is a huge reason," said Ferguson. "College recruiters are always coming to see Terrell, and kind of by default they see the rest of the team. And that opens up some opportunities they might not have everywhere else."
At the 5A level, 5A-II defending state champion Ironwood Ridge is reloaded after a dominating tear to coach Brian Peabody's first state title last winter.
The Nighthawks will have the ability to change pace on their opponents this year.
Point guard Lawrence Hampton, maybe the city's fastest man on the dribble, is a fastbreak in waiting. And if Ironwood Ridge would rather play a more controlled tempo, the Nighthawks can filter the ball into standout center Brandon Duliakas.
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