Christian Babcock is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mountain Pointe High School for AZPreps365.com

Desert Vista boasts four-star Marquette University commit Osasere Ighodaro and several other emerging NCAA Division I prospects. In many ways, the Thunder are what Mountain Pointe coach Kaimarr Price wants Mountain Pointe to be.

Athletic, confident and dominant, as their No. 1 state ranking and 22-3 record prove.

But Mountain Pointe isn’t there yet.

The Pride were reminded of that down the stretch when the two teams met Tuesday night. With Desert Vista up 61-59 with the ball, Ighodaro isolated his defender at the top of the key and drove toward the basket for a layup. He missed, but a Thunder rebound on the other side of the rim led to an easy putback. After two pairs of late-game free throws, Desert Vista went on to win 67-59.

“They killed us on the glass tonight,” freshman point guard Mark Brown said.

The Pride held Ighodaro in check most of the night. He scored just four points in the first quarter and was shut out in the second.

In the third quarter, he broke through with six points while also getting his teammates involved. Behind his scoring and assists, the Thunder stretched their 37-30 halftime lead to double digits.

But Mountain Pointe stayed in the game, despite being unable to get out in the open floor consistently. After weathering the third-quarter run, the Pride mounted one of their own to cut the deficit to three heading to the fourth.

In the final period, the Pride had several open 3-pointers to tie the game, but failed to connect and even the score.

"I felt like we lost because shots didn't fall outside and we didn't take the ball to the hoop as much as we usually do,” junior forward Zereoue Williams said. “We definitely should've boxed out better and put in more rebounding effort. When we do these things, we win these types of games."

The defeat marked Mountain Pointe’s second to Desert Vista, both by 10 points or fewer.

“They both were kind of the same,” Brown said. “We just didn't execute in the fourth quarter.”

Junior point guard Jason Kimbrough thought the Pride played better in the first meeting because they sped the game up.

“I say we played better at home than at DV,” he said. “We played so fast that they couldn't keep up. But defensively, playing (man-to-man) this game, we played harder defense. Just got to rebound better.”

The loss dropped Mountain Pointe to 12-10 but raised its state ranking from No. 10 to No. 9. Playing Desert Vista, the No. 1 team in the state, on the road and keeping it close was enough to bump its ranking up closer to No. 8, the cutline for a first-round bye in the state playoffs.

As the final two games of the regular season approach, Kimbrough is confident his team will be ready when the playoffs arrive.

“I think with these next few practices and games, we should set in just fine,” he said. “Peak for great performance and make the playoff run we know we can make.”

Price has similar confidence but knows the team’s remaining regular-season time is limited.

“We're this close,” he said. “All these close games against good teams. And ultimately, that's the difference between championship teams and other good teams. So we still have another step to take before playoffs. And we got a week to figure it out, what's gonna make it click for us so we can make this run.”