Colony boys stay perfect in Arizona tourney

PALMER — There are a few reasons why Colony head coach Tom Berg loves taking his Knights boys basketball teams south for tournaments during the holiday break.

It’s great for team bonding, Berg said, and his players have chances to do things they won’t normally get to do. Saturday night, the Knights saw the NBA’s Phoenix Suns take on the Philadelphia 76ers at the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix.

But making improvements on the basketball court is the primary reason to travel.

“It’s about taking the next step, being better in Game 5 than you were in Game 4,” Berg said by cellphone Saturday afternoon after he saw his team score a 65-51 win over Sturgeon, Alberta, Canada, during the second day of the Cactus Jam Tournament in Phoenix, Ariz.

Berg’s Knights improved to 2-0 in the tournament with the win, and 5-0 overall, and earned a spot in the championship game of their bracket. Colony faces Friends Seminary of New York City Monday at 9 a.m. AST in the bracket final.

Berg said a big factor in the win Saturday was Sturgeon, a Canadian program, was used to playing with a 24-second possession shot clock, a rule not used in high school basketball in the United States.

“They were used to playing defense for 24 seconds and going down and taking the first shot they could get,” Berg said.

Berg said the Knights were able to force turnovers, about 25 in the game, but were not able to consistently convert on the offensive end. Berg said the Knights shot about 31 percent in the game. Graham Dinkel led the Knights with 16 points.

Colony held a double-digit lead for most of the contest, but Berg said there was room for improvement.

“We didn’t execute to the level we wanted to,” Berg said.

Colony opened the tournament with a 54-42 win over Estrella Foothills of Goodyear, Ariz., on Dec. 27. The Knights jumped to a 21-15 lead in the first quarter, and capped the game with a 16-4 run. Bailey West scored a team-high 13 points for Colony, and Damien Fulp added a dozen. Robert Sonnenberg pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds for the Knights.

In addition to seeing the NBA game, Berg said the Knights will have the chance to connect with former Colony head coach Chuck Martin, Berg’s coach when he was a player at CHS. Martin, now head coach of Master’s College in California, is in the Phoenix area over the weekend. Berg said the Knights are planning on watching Martin’s team practice today.