Park Center fell behind 13-4 at the start as Tyus Jones built his assists to teammates Dennis Austin and Harry Sonie.  Fears crept in of a blowout until Quinton Hooker changed up the pace with basket attack after basket attack.  Three point shooting was ugly on both sides as the teams shot a combined 5 of 27 at the arc but the game was fast enough that 78 points were scored in 18 minutes with Apple Valley holding an eight point advantage.

Highlights included Quinton Hooker seemingly dancing through the Apple Valley defense going right and left for scores kissing the ball off the rim and over contesting defenders.  Back the other way Jones zipped passes into minute crevices that the naked eye can’t see (Tyus has Superman vision people) and late in the half Jones attacked alleys for four field goals and a dozen points at the break.

The second half had a different feel immediately as a charged up Park Center team spread the floor and instantly attacked Eagle defenders who were out of position.  Hooker produced a field goal, Devin Buckley had a drive and Josh Matthews put in a score to make it 47-41. As quickly as the Pirates got close the Eagles flew away on a Harry Sonie jumper and a beautiful stretched out scoop shot from Dennis Austin that became a three point play and a 50-43 advantage.

The game started to get away and the Pirates made things worse by making unintelligent decisions.  First was a bad wing pass that Dustin Fronk took to the house for two the other way and then Tyus skied a pass to Robert Tobroxen whose 6-foot-4 frame caught it high and finished high for a 54-43 lead at the 14 minute mark.

Just when one thought the number one team in the state was going to run away Quinton Hooker went on a scoring binge and then Vincent Head’s three-pointers closed the gap to 65-62 with five minutes remaining.  The energy in the building went from crazy to gonzo bonkers as the Apple Valley crowd went wild (there was no AV student group).  Vincent Head scored a lay-up in transition to tie the score at 66 and then a Hooker free slid them the edge 67-66.

With a minute to go the Pirates held on to a 72-70 lead with the ball.  Apple Valley was picking up full court so every second seemed like three.  The Eagles elected to try and get a steal but after 20 seconds they needed to foul twice to get in the bonus.  Once at the line Isaac Matthews missed the front end of a one and one giving Tyus Jones a chance down two. 

Tyus was being face guarded so he let Fronk go for it and Dustin missed a trey.  The rebound came to Tyus Jones who attacked and missed a 10 foot floater and the board went to Hooker.  When the shot went up everyone in the crowd stood up including Kentucky Coach John Calipari who clapped his hands in frustration at the miss as he was obviously cheering for the guy he is here to watch, Tyus Jones. 

Park Center was fouled but again missed the front end of the one and one.  However, the bounce off the rim worked out fine for the Pirates as they chased the ball down and upset Apple Valley 72-70. In beating the number one team in state the Park Center crowd rushed the floor. 

Score by half: Park Center 35-37--72, Apple Valley 43-27--70

Park Center: Hooker 26, Buckley 12, I. Matthews 10, McKay 10, Daniels 6, Head 4, Farrar 2, J. Matthews 2.

Apple Valley: Jones 20, Austin 17, Sonie 12, Tobroxen 9, Fronk 6, Bertram 3, Horton 2.