By Kelsey Perry
A big third quarter and a big man who couldn’t be stopped were the answers Saturday night for Mesa Mountain View.
The No. 9 seed defeated No. 8 Gilbert Highland 8568 in the Division I second-round matchup at Highland High.
Mountain View faces No. 1 Tempe Corona del Sol in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Mountain View’s Payton Dastrup was all over the court Saturday — a force off the boards, under the rim and the motor of an offense that wouldn’t quit. The 6-foot 9-inch center put up 24 points against Highland.
Mountain View coach Gary Ernst said he talked to Dastrup before the game about stepping up, and the senior leader responded to the call.
“It was his best game of the year,” Ernst said. “He sure picked a good time.”
Things stayed tight at Highland for a quarter, but Mountain View started to pull away in the second. A 3-pointer by Jake Toolson late in the first half brought Highland back within two possessions with Mountain View up 30-24 at halftime.
The visitors came out hot out of the locker room, outscoring Highland 22-9 in the third quarter.
Jake Denham registered a dunk halfway through the quarter and as the senior guard threw it down, the Mountain View crowd and the bench were up off their seats.
“I was excited to play, and that showed it for sure,” Denham said.
Highland refused to quit, though, climbing within 10 points with two minutes to go but deficit proved too tall of an order to overcome.
“They made a run, we answered it with free throws, and luckily we came up with the ‘W,’ ” Dastrup said.
Toolson finished the night with 43 points, including 25 in the fourth quarter.
Mountain View has a tough draw next round with Corona del Sol.
The No. 1 seed (29-1) is undefeated against Arizona teams. But Dastrup said if his team plays like it did tonight, he believes another upset could be in the cards.
“We’re a force to be reckoned with,” Dastrup said. “We’ve got shooters, we’ve got ballhandlers — we’ve got all the pieces to do what we want to do.” Mountain View forward/ center