Millennium’s run to final took off in fall workouts
Goodyear Millennium has always had teams under coach Ty Amundsen capable of reaching the finals. The did it in 2019. They did it again the following season. And they did it last year. All three of those teams left the court for the last time with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Now, Amundsen has Millennium back. This time on the biggest of big stages: The Open Division state championship game Saturday at 8 p.m., at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, against the two-time defending state champion Gilbert Perry Pumas and Koa Peat.
But there’s something different about this Millennium team, which is 25-4, all of its losses coming out of state against tough teams, including Texas’ Stony Point (which is now 35-1), Virginia’s Paul VI (31-2) and California’s Salesian College Prep (29-1). Since the one-point loss to Salesian, Millennium has won 10 straight, scoring more than 80 points in half of those.
This team feels like it can finish the job, celebrate inside Veterans Memorial Coliseum with the ultimate state championship in a tournament that began three weeks ago with 32 teams and is now down to two: The best team in 6A (Perry) against the best team in 5A (Millennium).
‘That was a blessing’
Millennium came into the season believing it was the best team in Arizona, regardless of conference. It was a confidence that began in June during great showings in the Section 7 with Indianatransplant Sabien Cain taking the Tigers to another level.
It got serious in the fall with intense practices; “with guys getting at each other, fighting with each other,” Amundsen said.
Amundsen would have to play mediator.
“People fight as a family,” he said, “but these guys were at each other’s throats, playing against each other, because our practices sometimes were our toughest competition.”
“That’s what makes our bench tougher, too. Now our bench guys have to guard Cam or Kingston or Sabien. Now they’ve gotten better. That’s how you build your bench, too.”
All planned out since June
Amundsen said he had a plan dating from June with every stage playing a big part in the development of this team. He had nine coaches all playing a role, including strength and conditioning. When Millennium went to Florida during the winter break for the City of Palms tournament, Amundsen said he had people coming up to him, asking if Millennium was a public school.
“They were going, ‘How does a public school have this much talent because they’re usually the ones getting plucked (by national prep academies),’” Amundsen said.
Loyalty is paying off now for Amundsen, who used to lose guys to prep academies. Cameron Holmes has remained loyal. Now the big plan that began in June is paying off.
“Everything, the plan, the travel, the bonding to our games to our hard practices and our rotations have all planned out since June to now,” Amundsen said. “We had a plan. These guys are ready for that.”
Last year, when Millennium halfheartedly played their way into the 5A final, after losing to Peoria Liberty in the second round of the Open, the Tigers appeared to hit an emotional wall in the 61-48 championship loss to first-time champion Gilbert Campo Verde.
It was difficult to get pumped back up for the conference state tournament after falling out of the Open. That team was very young, featuring Holmes as a freshman and sophomore Kingston Tosi.
Holmes, now a 6-foot-6 sophomore, and Tosi, a 6-7 junior, have matured greatly since a year ago in every aspect. They’re physically stronger. They’re mentally tougher. And they know they’ve got a lot of talent around them.
So much so that Amundsen can bring four players off the bench without skipping a beat. In Wednesday’s semifinal rout of Scottsdale Notre Dame, Holmes picked up four fouls in the first four minutes of the game. He sat the rest of the half, watching the Tigers go on a run that flipped a 7-2 deficit into a 31-22 halftime lead.
By the time the final quarter began, Holmes didn’t even have to put up a shot. The Tigers, with a 30-point third quarter, led 61-31 and had a running clock the rest of the way.
Caine has been the X factor on this team. When he arrived from Indiana, it was no longer the Big Two, but the Big Three with Holmes, Tosi and Cain. Cain, a senior who was among the top players in Indiana last year, has signed with Cal State Northridge.
“Now they have to key on three guys, instead of two,” Amundsen said. “That was a blessing.”
Tosi came to Millennium as a freshman after his family moved from Anchorage, Alaska, only to see his game take off the last two years.
“The exposure out here is much better,” Tosi said about the difference between Alaska and Arizona. “Not a lot of people are looking in Alaska for talent.”
Tosi’s game has improved so much that he may wind up a high major college recruit. He’s able to change the game defensively with his ability to block shots. It takes weight off of Holmes, who can guard any position on the floor.
And with Cain’s great on-ball defense and ability to knock down 3s, the Tigers are a different animal this season. They used the No. 6 seed the Arizona Interscholastic Association handed them entering the playoffs for motivation, even making T-shirts that say, “Tigers vs. Everybody.”
That “us against the world” mentality is working in Millennium’s favor.
“We haven’t lost all year in Arizona, I think that boosted our confidence,” Holmes said. “Going to the championship game, we’ve never been here before in the Open, that is boosting our confidence even more. Going in and winning our first one.”
After a hard-fought quarterfinal win (56-50) at No. 3 Sunnyslope, that confidence sky-rocketed in the 64-38 rout of Notre Dame, which was seeded No. 2. Millennium now has a chance to beat the top three seeds in the Open tournament with a win over Perry.
But it won’t be easy. Koa Peat, a 6-8 junior who appears headed to a bright NBA future, has never lost a state championship game. His play elevates the higher the stakes. In Perry’s win over No. 4 Chandler Basha in the semifinals, Peat had maybe his best game of the season with 35 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.
Holmes and Tosi look forward to the challenge.
“Growing up, Koa’s been my best friend since sixth, seventh grade,” Holmes said. “It’s always fun playing against him. It’s going to be a very heated, a great matchup.
“We’ve been working all year for this. We got there. Now we just need to get it.”