STATE CHAMPS! -- Thunder down Knights in Glendale

GLENDALE - Josh Lowery turned to the student section, lifted his palms in the air, let a wide smile come across his face and had two words for them: “State. Champs.”

Lowery and Desert Vista captured the school’s first-ever state basketball championship Friday night at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, 63-50 over Phoenix St. Mary’s.

“This feels great, man,” Lowery said afterwards. “I love my life.”

Check out Friday’s live gameday blog from Glendale

Also Friday: Chips fall into place for Harris, Lowery, Thunder

Lowery, a junior guard who transferred from Seattle before the season, had a career-high 21 points, including 14 in the second half.

DV, the No. 4 seed in the Class 5A-Division I tournament, also got 16 points from senior forward Michael Proctor in downing the No. 10 Knights, whom had ended the Thunder’s season a year ago in the state finals on the arms of guard Jerryd Bayless in this very same building.

“Those guys were huge and they’ve been big time for us all year,” DV coach Doug Harris said of his team’s two leading scorers. “They told me we were going to get it done tonight, and I believed them. That’s the first thing you’ve got to do, you’ve got to believe you’re going to win a championship, and those guys did.”

After all the festivities to start the game - the arena’s lights were turned off and spotlights took their place as the starting lineups were announced to blaring music - the Thunder trailed 15-11 in a jittery first quarter.

“We all got freaked out,” Proctor said. “The lights turned out, we didn’t know what to expect. This was the first time we’d been here. They were experienced from last year with Jerryd Bayless, and they came out well.

“Once we got over that, the anticipation was gone and we were able to come out as hard as we could.”

DV responded with nothing short of a dominating second quarter that started with a 15-0 run and ended in a 32-21 lead at the break, thanks to Lowery’s buzzer-beating jumper.

“We took over the second quarter,” Lowery said. “We just stayed aggressive and played as a team. Complete team effort. We did everything we had to do, from rebounding, defending, scoring - everything. The whole team did it.”

The quarter was eerily similar to DV’s 11-0 run that helped the Thunder pull away from Chandler Basha in the fourth quarter of their semifinal Thursday.

DV got a big lift from reserve guard Dan Tilleman, who hit drilled back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter that helped further the growing DV lead.

“The bench was humungous for us,” forward Barret Robbins said. “When we were down, they kept us in the game. When people were struggling, in foul trouble, whatever, they came in and helped give us a lift. They were excellent for us.”

Despite having three starters with four fouls in the fourth quarter, DV would maintain at least an 11-point lead until there was 3:27 left, when St. Mary’s guard Brandon Jenkins hit a 3-pointer. Knight forward George Matthews then followed that with a layup to cut it to 51-44.

Proctor responded with a layup of his own, on which he was fouled, nailed the free throw to put DV ahead 54-44.

Guard Marcus Lever then hit two free throws, and Lowery had a huge layup to push it to 58-44.

The win erased two years of bad Glendale memories. The Thunder had reached the semifinals each of the past two years, only to watch their seasons end on the floor at Jobing.com Arena.

“This just knocks out everything in the past,” said guard Marcus Lever, who finished with 12 points. “We just want to live in the moment with all our teammates - no, no, no, our family. We’ve grown as a family throughout this year.”

It also announced to the 5A-I boys basketball world that previous success - namely six trips to the final four in seven years, including a runner-up finish in 2004 - wasn’t a fluke.

“We were so close over the last three-four years,” Harris said, “and we finally got it done.

“These seniors, I don’t know what to say,” he added. “I’ve been so blessed and fortunate to be a part of such a fine group of young men that were able to overcome everything. They had critics, they had doubters, but they got it done tonight on the biggest stage.”