After starting their season off strong with a stunning 18-point win against St. Mary’s HIgh School in Mesa, the Thunder’s successful opening night showed an impressive drive. They came into their first home game with the same intense mentality against the Valley Vista Monsoons by playing pressured ball all night, resulting in plenty of steals.

One of key factors in the Thunder’s success is the depth of talent they can rely on within their roster. They play fast pace on both ends with many substitutions, and according to the players, a lot of chemistry.

“We gonna have good chemistry,” said Isaiah Wilson, shooting guard. ” I think the chemistry is going to be way better than last year because we are returning and we all play with each other.”

Although DV was short four important players in these early season games with E.J Jackson, J’Saan Strover, Tyrek Chambers, and Alijah Gammage  on the bench, Coach Gino Crump relied on the other nine players for production while still playing just as and fast and intense as normal.

The Thunder got off to a  quick start scoring the first 8 points of the game, but shortly after the Monsoons took the lead with a hot 10-0 run. The first quarter was full of runs but the Thunder finished the it with a 12-10 lead over the Monsoons.

The second quarter continued to be a tight back and forth game led by Center Christian Anigwe with 10 points at the end of the half. The first half ended with Valley Vista having the upper hand with a score of 25-27.

In the second half both teams came out with a lot of energy and played fast paced offense and defense. The Thunder continued to play full court defense resulting in take aways that gave DV the momentum for a majority of the quarter. Wesley Harris gave the Thunder the big boost they needed in the 3rd quarter scoring eight points with a total of 14 by the end.The Monsoons finished off the quarter with a steal and a big buzzer beater dunk to put the game to a one possession game with a score of 46-43. This huge play gave Valley Vista momentum for the very beginning of the the final quarter, but it didn’t hold long. With less than 4 minutes to go the Thunder increased their lead to 9 (56-47). Within only one minute of that lead the Monsoons cut it down to just 4 with a layup and and an and-1 floater.

“Our team is so deep, we can substitute 5 and just keep the game going and the pace with all guards,” Wilson said.

DV kept the game from becoming close and maintained a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game. With less than 15 seconds to go the Thunder came up with a steal and threw it up court for hard slam to erupt the crowd by Isaiah Wilson. The final score of the game was 67-56 with Desert Vista coming out on top once again.

This win was an impressive night for the two starting big men for the Thunder, Wesley Harris came out with 19 points and Christian Anigwe finished with 21 points. This was yet another successful night for Desert Vista to advance their record to 2-0. The Thunder look to carry this over on to the next game against Tolleson Union High School.