Millennium basketball hits reset in 5A tournament behind freshman phenom Cameron Holmes

The emotional hangover of bowing out in the second round of the 32-team Open Division boys basketball state tournament is over.

Goodyear Millennium has processed it and was back on the court this week to get ready for the 5A tournament.

With the format allowing for teams that lose in the first two rounds of the Open to be eligible for their respective conference tournaments, Millennium has hit the reset button in preparation for Thursday night's first-round 5A game at home as the No. 2 seed against No. 15-seed Queen Creek Casteel.

Millennium (24-4) found itself in a tough Open bracket, falling to No. 8 Peoria Liberty 91-83.

"This is the first time we've ever had to do this," Millennium coach Ty Amundsen said. "You get a chance to still hoist up a trophy. It's the 5A state championship. It's not an Open championship."

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Amundsen talked to his brother, a high school coach in California, who had a team that lost in a top bracket, got moved into another and wound up in the final before losing in a close game.

"He said, even though it wasn't the Open, it felt great," Amundsen said. "We've got to first get these guys refocused."

Amundsen shouldn't have trouble with that. It is as young a team as he has ever had and it starts with 6-foot-6 freshman wing Cameron Holmes, the younger brother of Dayton star DaRon Holmes, who was a former Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year at Millennium.

Cameron Holmes leads arguably the greatest wave of freshmen talent to ever come through the Arizona Interscholastic Association system in boys basketball. There are the House twins, Kaden and Kalek at Desert Mountain, who have their team in the Open quarterfinals to play at Ironwood on Saturday.

But they haven't gotten the national attention yet that Holmes has received. Holmes' offers include Kansas, Arizona State and Oregon. And he's just scratching the surface of what he can do.

Holmes got into foul trouble in the Liberty loss — which was only the second Arizona team that the Tigers lost to this season — and wasn't as aggressive as he normally would be with four fouls in the final quarter. He still wound up with 25 points, a few days after he had 37 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a first-round overtime win over Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor.

"After the loss, it's kind of hard," Holmes said about the Liberty loss. "But we're going to get over it. We're going to work to win the 5A state championship."

It's a new season. New hope. More games to develop.

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Amundsen starts two freshmen and three sophomores. Brayden Barrett, a 6-5 freshman, has made an impact on this team, along with sophomores Kingston Tosi, Quincy Everson and J.T. Amundsen.

"We're all young and we're all coming back next season," Holmes said. "When we lost, you have to learn from it. You can't get mad."

Holmes, who is humble and hard-working like his brother, averaged 17 points, 6.8 rebounds, seven assists and 2.8 blocks.

"Cam is a very unselfish player," coach Amundsen said. "He is a team-first guy and loves and trusts his teammates."

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Cam has always looked up to his brother DaRon, who has grown from 6-4 as a freshman at Millennium to now 6-10 and had a sudden impact at Dayton his freshman year, averaging a team-best 12.8 points and set a school record with 81 blocks last season.

"He's the person I look up to, my inspiration, my role model," Cameron said of his brother. "Everything he does right, I look forward to doing."

Cameron has all the offensive skills to get to his brother's caliber. Defensively, DaRon was on another planet in high school and is now in college.

"It runs in the family," Cameron said about playing defense. "I think I'm getting there with him. But he blocks shots. He rebounds. I love doing that. It's part of the game. When I'm doing that, I feel like I'm leaning towards being like my brother."

For subscribers: Breaking down the boys basketball brackets: Who will go all the way?

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter@azc_obert