SUNRISE NORTHWEST BASKETBALL: The top spot

Palo Verde has the ingredients to excel in regional division

Advertisement

Size, depth and experience are crucial to having a chance to win a state title on any level in Nevada high school basketball. Palo Verde has all of the above and will again be seen as the team to beat in the Sunrise Region's Northwest Division this season.

After losing Phil Clarke -- the only coach the 9-year-old school had ever known and the one who led the school to its only state title against Foothill in 2004, to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma last Dec. 29 at age 53 -- the Panthers rallied behind new coach Paul Aznarez and almost defended their state title.

But they lost to Bishop Gorman in a game at The Orleans Arena last February as the state championship game was played in Southern Nevada for the first time in 15 years.

This season, the Panthers (22-8 last year), who dedicated their court at Palo Verde to the late Clarke before their home opener against Las Vegas on Dec. 2, have as much size, depth and experience as any school in the city, and also have the memory of a loss in their final game at state fresh on their minds.

First-team, all-Sunset pick P'Allen Stinnett (6-4), likely the best player in the Northwest, and fellow senior Luke Gums (6-1) will man the Panthers' backcourt while 2003-04 Sunset Region MVP Nate Schulte (6-5) -- who transferred to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire before returning to the Summerlin campus before the holiday break last year -- give Palo Verde plenty of scoring potential. Stinnett, the second-leading scorer in the city averaging 25.5 points per game last season, recently signed a letter of intent to attend Iowa State.

In the paint, the Panthers are simply huge. Besides the 6-foot-5-inch Schulte, Palo Verde also has Zach Fowle (6-6), Tyler Lay (6-6), Reese Gneiting (6-7) and Spencer Haire (6-5) and has the kind of height most college teams have.

And with shooting guard Michael Loyd also back, Aznarez has plenty of options on his long bench.

Palo Verde will test its mettle in three holiday tournaments in the next couple of weeks -- the San Diego Tournament at Grossmont High School from Saturday through Dec. 21; the Coaxial Classic at the Cox Pavilion on Dec. 22; and the Las Vegas Prep Championship from Dec. 27-30.

A coach who has been around high school hoops for a while -- with 24 years' experience as a varsity head coach under his belt -- and who knows the Northwest pretty well is Cimarron-Memorial's Steve Boyack, who thinks this season may play out a lot like last.

"Our Northwest conference is always one of the toughest and I think this year is no exception," Boyack said. "Palo Verde should probably be the team to beat. I think they will be the ones on top and all the other four to five teams will just be right there nip-and-tuck behind them battling for second place."

And with those three Panthers returnees, Boyack knows who he has to stop.

"They're (Palo Verde) bigger than they were last year," he said. "I think the two kids, Stinnett and Schulte have got another year under their belt and the Lucas Gums I know is a good solid guard and those three guys are the kids we're going to look to stop."

Cheyenne (16-11) and new head coach Teral Fair hope to push Palo Verde in the Northwest with one of the biggest players in the valley -- 6-foot-10-inch, 300-pound junior center Melvyn Oliver.

With Oliver, the Desert Shields should dominate in the paint, but Cheyenne will need strong seasons from seniors Lorenzo Mitchell (6-2), Aaron Lewis (6-2) and Jeff Leider (5-9) if it is to challenge the Panthers for the league crown.

The Desert Shields will get to see just how strong Palo Verde is on Jan. 20 when they host the Panthers in their first divisional meeting in North Las Vegas.

One senior-heavy team that may break out this season is Shadow Ridge (9-11), coached by Kevin Otis. With 10 of 12 players on the Mustangs' roster being seniors, Shadow Ridge may have enough experience and talent to garner a playoff berth.

And with Markel Farmer (6-4), who averaged 7.9 points and five boards a game last season, Langston Banks (5-11), Christian McMillan (6-3), Jacob Hafen (6-2) and football standout Troy Cummings (6-0) at guard, the Mustangs boast one of the taller teams in the league.

Shadow Ridge started the season 1-1, beating Eldorado and losing to Foothill in the Stations Hotel Tip-Off Classic held Nov. 25-26 at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy.

Although he still had not seen its team play yet, Boyack thought Shadow Ridge would be in the mix in the Northwest.

"We haven't had a chance to see the others yet, but I run that CHAMPS league and a lot of them play in that so I'm able to kind of see them there," Boyack said. "But I think Shadow Ridge should be right up there as a strong contender for second, but funny things happen. We were able to beat Palo (Verde) last year and we're hoping to do that again. Our kids are confident and we're going to battle every game."

Boyack's Spartans went 11-12 last season -- one of three teams in the league to finish a game under .500 -- as Boyack's son Cory, a second-team, All-Northwest pick, led Cimarron.

This season, Boyack's son graduated, and he has a fairly young team, which should fight for one of the four playoff berths in the league, led by 6-foot-2-inch senior center Emmanuel Olekaibe, who averaged 16 points and eight rebounds last season.

The only other starter with a lot of experience will be junior guard Chris James (6-2) who averaged five points per game last year.

Boyack said he thought his team was a little more athletic this season despite being much younger.

"I'm pretty positive and confident of the season as a whole," Boyack said. "I think we're probably more athletic (this year). Last year we were strong, but just dropped some games right at the end and had a lot of close games. But we're young this year. I've only got two seniors on the team."

Last year, Boyack's team missed the playoffs despite being in the thick of it to the end.

"It was crazy," he said. "With two games left in the season, we were two games out of first place. We really felt we were real close to them (Palo Verde) talent-wise and that's the way our whole conference was. We lost three games by a total of four points going down the wire. A couple of free throws here and there and we could have been in second place."

The Spartans will count heavily on getting production from senior Garrett Breen and juniors Jarrell Washington, Trevell Penn, Edwin Villa and David Sovich, and may have a chance at a playoff spot in a league that's fairly evenly matched.

Another school fighting with Cheyenne, Shadow Ridge and Cimarron for a playoff spot in the Northwest will be Centennial (13-14), coached by Greg Bohls.

The Bulldogs return just one starter in 5-foot-10-inch senior guard Khabir Muhammad, but did get 6-foot-2-inch Shadow Ridge transfer Jamarion Lewis in the offseason. Along with senior James Ferma, Bohls has some options in his backcourt.

Down low, Centennial will count heavily on senior forward/center Ryan Staker (6-6) to battle Schulte and Oliver and some of the bigger bodies in the conference.

At Mojave (11-12), coach Tony Hopkins hopes to make the playoffs again this season but will have to find some offense as last year's leading scorer Dominique Watson (20.9 ppg), a first-team, All-Sunset selection and the sixth-leading scorer in the city, has graduated.

Senior Javier Holliday, a transfer from Atlanta, junior Donte Poole (11 ppg) and sophomore point guard Darian Norris will try to pick up the slack with Watson's leaving and may provide enough scoring to help the Rattlers contend for the playoffs once again.

One team not too concerned with fighting for a playoff spot but focused on building a program for the future is new high school Arbor View, coached by John Teran.

With no seniors and no experience playing in the Northwest, Teran and his Aggies will concentrate on team chemistry and getting the program aimed in the right direction.

Brooks Robinson, Dominique Williams, Michael McAllister and Paris Kelly are among the top players for Arbor View.