Stories To Tell: State Basketball Tournaments Deliver Hollywood Moments

If you like basketball, it won’t matter whether you’ve heard of these names and places. They’ve got a story to tell, and you’re probably going to like it ...

Take the story of Holbrook, a high school in eastern Arizona that hadn’t won a state title in boys basketball in 40 years. The team trailed its Arizona state championship game Saturday by 15 points in the fourth quarter -- and won 49-43. It took a full-court press for a team with no player taller than 6-foot-3 to solve an opponent, Fountain Hills, with a front line of 6-4, 6-8 and 6-9.

Also in Arizona, underdog Nogales - a historic school on the Mexican border that’s over 60 years old -- won its first state title in any sport since 1983. The Apaches took down Arizona all-sports power Saguara of Scottsdale.

In Washington, D.C., Theodore Roosevelt won its semifinal and final on buzzer-beaters. In the semifinals, Antone James hit a 3-point shot to beat Springarn 71-69. In the final, Ezell Starks made a steal with 3 seconds left and made a layup as time expired in a 62-60 victory over Eastern.

In Normal, Ill., two Catholic schools met for a girls state championship, and a 42-game winning streak was snapped as Notre Dame, a school on the Illinois’ banks of the Mississippi River, defeated Central Catholic.

There’s more where those came from. SB Nation will be following 14 more state championship games this week.