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GLENDALE — Frankie Mgbolu tried his hardest to remain composed Monday afternoon at Jobing.com Arena.

With TV cameras in his face and reporters asking him to gush about his performance in the 1A state championship game, St. Gregory's soft-spoken freshman point guard tried to contain an ear-to-ear grin.

Alas, modesty and shyness are no match for the uncontrollable joy of winning a state title.

Mgbolu's stoicism and clutch performance in the final minute guided St. Gregory to a 44-37 win over Duncan, giving the Hawks their first boys hoops state championship.

"It was crazy out there," said Mgbolu, who led all scorers with 15 points and added five assists, four steals and four rebounds. "I knew a lot of people were counting on me to get us through it, and I just had to step up."

St. Gregory (32-3) clung to a tenuous 39-34 lead with less than a minute remaining, when Mgbolu took an inbound pass from Blake Gephart underneath the Hawks' basket.

Mgbolu made the layup while being fouled and falling down and sank the add-on free throw to boost the lead back to eight points.

After Duncan's Levi Hatch made a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to make it 42-37, Mgbolu was fouled and sent to the line with a mountain of pressure on his shoulders.

"I kept thinking, 'I've gotta sink these. Gotta sink these,'" he said.

Swish. Swish.

"Frankie was Frankie. I don't even know what to tell people about him anymore," Hawks coach Paul Baranowski said with a smile. "He's totally unselfish and a serious talent. He was incredible out there."

St. Gregory withstood Duncan's ever-moving, Princeton-style offense by switching from its man-to-man defense to a 3-2 zone late in the second quarter.

Senior post players Samit Bhalala and Adrian Jarvis thrived in the zone and limited Duncan's points in the paint after the defensive switch.

Bhalala (6 feet 5 inches) and Jarvis (6-3) tormented the Wildkats' smaller lineup and combined for 24 points and 20 rebounds, many of them on the offensive glass.

"Ever since we were freshmen, we all said we were going to bring home the first state championship," Jarvis said. "We called it the first day of practice, we overcame some things along the way, and we got it done."

The Pusch Ridge Christian dynasty beat its nemesis, Chandler Valley Christian, 29-27 Monday in the semifinal round at Jobing.com.

Pusch Ridge, the three-time defending 2A champs, lost in two previous games against Valley Christian this season, including 10 days ago in the Metro Region tournament final.

But the same type of smothering defense that made the Lions (31-4) the state's elite 2A team buried Valley Christian and gave Pusch Ridge a ticket to Saturday's title game.

"I watched that regional game in slow-motion for three hours and picked apart every defensive breakdown so we could correct it," Lions coach Lonnie Tvrdy said. "We knew what we had to do to beat them this time."

Pusch Ridge held the Trojans (28-5) to two first-quarter points and led 21-14 to start the fourth quarter. Once there, junior star Hannah McLeod scored six of her game-high 13 points to fend off VC's late rally.

The Lions play St. Johns at Jobing.com Saturday at 10 a.m. St. Johns beat Morenci 57-41 in Monday's other semifinal.