Ethan Ryter is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Perry High School for AZPreps365.com.

Defense, defense, defense … and moving the ball. That’s what the Perry boys basketball team has preached all season long.

It rang true Tuesday night when it mattered most.

The Pumas outscored Basha by 19 points in the second half for a 72-48 win and the school's first region title.

“That second half was one of the best defensive efforts maybe we’ve had all year," Perry head coach Sam Duane said.

A big key going into the game was stopping Basha’s shooters. The team made it clear it would need to contain senior guards Trenton McLaughlin and Thomas Hastings. Sophomore Perry guard Cody Williams was the main player tasked with stopping McLaughlin. While McLaughlin did end up with 23 points, he was forced to take a lot of tough shots opposite Williams.

“I really did look forward to it, especially since coach had me picking him up full court. I wouldn’t be doing that if he wasn’t a great basketball player,” said Williams. “I took pride in playing great defense against him. My whole team played great defense. That’s what allowed us to get the win.”

Even if defense wins championships, you need to have some offense, too. Perry got it, mainly through three players. Junior forward Dylan Anderson scored 25, senior guard Christian Tucker scored 20 and Williams scored 14. That’s a combined 59 points for 82% of Perry’s offensive total.

“We’re basically like a three-headed snake. Nobody can really stop us,” said Tucker.

Perry took advantage of the many free-throw attempts garnered throughout the game. At the beginning of the second quarter, Williams had the ball on the left wing and lobbed it up to his 7-foot teammate, Anderson, who threw it down while picking up the foul.

The junior varsity team watching from the stands went ballistic, taking off their tops above their game jerseys to celebrate. Parents and friends were also in awe.

This was one of many dunks on the night by Anderson. And all of them got a large response from the crowd.

“If I were to get a dunk, or Dylan were to get a dunk, it just electrifies the whole team and the gym,” said Williams.

Dunking isn’t all that Anderson does either.

“It’s good having a 7-footer in the lane that can also shoot. When he’s in the lane it opens stuff up for us too,” said Williams. “He’s obviously dominant on the boards, too.”

At the end of the night, the three stars were too much for Basha to handle. And even with three talented scorers, they utilized passing as one of their biggest weapons.

“If we didn’t move the ball, we wouldn’t get post touches,” said Williams. “Without ball movement we really wouldn’t score.”

While those three scored a large majority of the points, they loved watching their teammates contribute. At the end of the game when his teammate scored a layup, Tucker let out a loud “And-one!” in excitement.

Duane sees the value of those three in the way their team plays but knows them alone won’t get the team where they want to go.

“They do a lot for us. They’re our guys, and our other guys know their roles off of them,” said Duane.

Duane was also proud of the team's collective defensive effort in making school history.

“It’s great. There’s no better feeling than beating your rival,” Williams said.

There's still work to be done, though.

“It’s not our main goal. Our main goal is the big thing,” said Duane. “Right now, we want to be in playoff mode.”

Coming off of this big win, the team closes out the regular season with a game against Brophy (13-5) on Friday. Looking ahead, Williams reiterated the team’s goal.

“Beat Brophy on Friday, that’s it," he said. "And then go into playoffs and try to win a state championship."

While this was an impressive win against their rival, a state championship is no easy task. And when Duane was asked what he thinks his team need to do to achieve that goal, his message was pretty clear.

“Keep getting better,” Duane said.