Sunnyslope's Chris Orozco, No. 22, and his teammates accept the 5A championship trophy for the second year in a row. Photo Darin Sicurello/maxpreps.com.

Some of Sunnyslope’s seniors participated in three championship games, winning two, but a few of them are still peeved about finishing 11-15 when they were freshman varsity players.

“Oh yeah,” said Sunnsylope’s senior big man, Chris Orozco. “Believe it or not we are still upset about it. It was a wake up call.”

Over the past three season, especially the past two, opponents never really found Sunnsylope’s snooze button.

Judging from the ear-to-ear smiles after completing back-to-back championship seasons, it’s also safe to say that that 11-15 season will soon become a distant memory for Sunnyslope’s most ever accomplished senior basketball class. The veterans pulled the team through in the pivotal second half moments of Tuesday’s 5A Conference 45-35 championship victory over Deer Valley at Wells Fargo Arena.

The last gut check came after No. 1 Deer Valley (26-3) went from trailing 32-19 to getting to within two points of tying Sunnyslope behind the play of Brandon Savage and Bryce Davis in the low post. But Sunnyslope’s upperclassmen responded in the final three and a half minutes.

A bucket and two free throw by senior Bryson MeWhinney, a transition basket by another 4-year player, Kyle Fischer, and two free throws by Orozco pushed the lead back up to 43-34 with 45 second left.

“That just shows our experience of being in this type of limelight,” Sunnyslope coach Ray Portela said. “We’ve been here before. We’ve learned from those experiences, and just the fact that they also care about each other. And when they care about each other, they trust each other, they play together and don’t play selfish. I can’t say enough about the seniors.”

No. 2 seed Sunnyslope (27-5) held a slim 20-19 lead at halftime but opened the third period with a 12-0 run in which all of the points were scored by four different seniors.

For the most part, the 10 seniors on the team didn’t meet until they arrived at Sunnyslope, Oroszco said. During the past four seasons they went on to form a close bond that was forged on the hardwood.

“We became more than just friends and teammates,” Oroszco said. “We became a family.”