The main attraction in a packed Tucson High gymnasium Tuesday night almost took an early curtain call, but to the delight of many of the spectators and Gilbert Perry High School, five-star talent Koa Peat offered a winning performance before stepping off the stage.
Peat, a Class of 2025 recruiting target of Arizona, finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds after sitting with four fouls with 3:22 remaining in the third quarter.
The 6-foot-8 and 235-pound forward sat with Perry leading 36-34. He returned with 6:07 remaining in the game and Perry ahead 44-39.
He walked off the court celebrating the 64-48 win after scoring nine points in the fourth quarter with a couple of assists in transition to teammate DeAndre Harrison, another Division I recruit bound for Missouri-Kansas City.
Perhaps frustrated by the foul trouble, and growing numb to all the hype around him, Peat chose not to speak with members of the local media after the game. With all the press he gets, including countless interviews, it was understandable.
“Tonight, he didn’t get a lot of help,” Perry coach Sam Duane Jr. said of the officiating. “I don’t think they let him be real physical tonight. They didn’t let him play like he will in college.
“He made simple plays and stayed composed through all of that, if you saw those things. He makes right plays and he’s a winner.”
Peat has Arizona among his final five choices along with Arizona State, Houston, Baylor and Arkansas.
Koa Peat requested to not speak with media tonight. His coach at Perry, Sam Duane Jr. (@CoachDuanePumas), a legendary coach with seven state titles, fielded questions about him. pic.twitter.com/PHwPuY5cH6
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 8, 2025
KC Beard, an assistant of Kelvin Sampson at Houston, was in attendance standing in plain view of Peat with a Houston hoodie beyond the baseline adjacent to the Perry bench. After the game, Beard chatted with Peat’s father, Todd, a former NFL offensive lineman.
Arizona and its coaching staff were finishing a 75-56 win at West Virginia when Perry and Tucson were about to tip off. Baylor was beating Cincinnati at home Tuesday night. Arkansas was preparing to play at home against Ole Miss and Arizona State was en route to Lawrence, Kan., to play Kansas for games scheduled Wednesday.
Houston trounced TCU on Monday night at home and does not play again until Saturday, so Beard had the time.
Doesn’t matter. Tommy Lloyd, Bobby Hurley, Scott Drew and John Calipari could be in China. Koa Peat knows they covet him.
“I know he’s confident in those five schools,” said his brother Keona Peat, an Arizona State offensive lineman who was in attendance. “He’s still brainstorming all of his options.”
Koa Peat with 8 points now. Game tied at 26 with 3:29 left 2Q. pic.twitter.com/2hofII7PJS
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 8, 2025
Some on social media have posted “crystal-ball projections” of Peat headed to Arizona to potentially join other undecided five-star talents Brayden Burries and Alijah Arenas (Gilbert’s son) along with signed five-star prospect Dwayne Aristode, and LeBron James‘ son Bryce (who committed to the program last week).
“In this day and age with high-profile athletes, sometimes the family can be off a little bit,” said Duane, who has seven state championships between Tempe Corona del Sol (where his legendary dad won titles as well) and Perry.
“Humble, grounded character … that’s how Koa is because of his family and the way he was raised.”
In addition to Keona, Todd Peat’s older sons played football. Todd Jr. played defensive tackle for Nebraska, Eastern Arizona College, and Texas A&M–Commerce, Andrus is an offensive tackle from Northern Illinois who was picked 13th overall in the 2015 NFL draft by the New Orleans Saints and is now a 10-year veteran following this season with the Las Vegas Raiders, and Cassius played for Scottsdale Community College.
His daughter Leilani played basketball in college with Seattle and San Francisco.
Koa Peat now with four fouls with 3:22 left 3Q.
Perry leads 36-34.
He takes a seat. pic.twitter.com/efpgsefig9— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 8, 2025
Koa Peat is known for his aggressive, physical style that falls in line with the football background in his family. He can body up post players for rebounds and disrupt guards and forwards with his tenacious defense while utilizing his foot speed and athleticism.
He has some finesse to his game with a deft shooting touch, especially from mid-range, and a keen eye for passing in transition.
“He can’t control what I thought were playground fouls,” Keona said of Tuesday’s game. “He goes into every game with the same mindset of getting his teammates involved. He’s always going to make the right pass and take the right shot.”
D’Andre Harrison came up big with 27 points to help keep Perry up on Tucson late. 64-48 victory on the road. Missouri Kansas City commit! #azpreps365 pic.twitter.com/29ZaxHcAtK
— Andy Morales (@AZPreps365Andy) January 8, 2025
Duane commented that Koa Peat has shown his versatility by defending well recently against Duke-bound power forward Nikolas Khamenia of Studio City (Calif.) Harvard-Westlake High School and Wake Forest point-guard prospect Isaac Carr of Portland (Ore.) Central Catholic High School.
“His IQ of basketball is off the charts,” Duane added. “I coached another kid, Jalen Williams of the (Oklahoma City) Thunder. I would put Jalen and Koa as my two highest players ever in IQ. He (Peat) process the game quick and he sees things on the floor.
“That’s what makes him so special.”
Tucson coach Eric Langford saw that ability in Koa Peat when the youngster was in grade school.
“I’ve known Koa since he was in the fifth grade,” Langford said. “I used to ref him in Phoenix. I always told him he was going to be a pro.”
Perry (14-1) was ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation by MaxPreps until a 57-54 loss to Khamenia and Harvard-Westlake at last week’s Nike Tournament of Champions in Gilbert dropped the Pumas to No. 10. On3 had Perry ranked No. 7 in the nation entering the game with Tucson (10-6).
Tucson High coach Eric Langford’s team lost 64-48 to nationally-ranked Perry and Koa Peat but the outcome was not indicative of how the Badgers battled the Pumas closely into the fourth quarter. Langford got what he wanted out of the game, except a win — competing well against… pic.twitter.com/0SPYOqgkZS
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 8, 2025
Langford took solace in the fact the game was in doubt until Peat returned in the fourth quarter. He mentioned Perry pulled away when Harrison “imposed his will” on the Badgers in transition.
“It kind of took a toll on us, got us tired, and got us in foul trouble,” Langford said.
Harrison scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in the second half including 10 straight that helped Perry build a 46-39 lead with 6:07 left.
Tucson junior Malaki Cunningham-Hiadzi led the Badgers with 14 points until fouling out with 2:58 left. Senior Xavier Grajeda added 11 while making three shots from 3-point range.
Tucson Junior Malaki Cunningham-Hiadzi stood tall against a top ten team with 14 points in limited action. He was right there with the big guys. The Badgers did Tucson proud with a 64-48 loss with the game tied 36-36 with 3 minutes left in the third pic.twitter.com/fPingMiC2u
— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) January 8, 2025
“I’m happy with the way we played; I’m proud of the boys,” Langford said. “They competed. This is a game that we wanted. We’ve been talking about games like this for three years now.
“Hats off to Coach Duane down there. He’s doing a great job … I’m glad he accepted the game for them to come down here and play against us.”
The closely-called game affected Tucson as much as it did with Perry having to sit Peat for close to five minutes between the third and fourth quarters.
“The foul trouble did hurt us,” Langford said. “It took away from us being a little scrappy in the fourth quarter. With six minutes to go, they started imposing their will in the paint, getting layups and getting and-ones.”
The result was a loss but Langford considers the outcome of the entire evening a victory because of what it meant to play a team like Perry with performers such as Peat and Harrison in front of a loud and boisterous atmosphere.
The stage reminded Langford of yesteryear when he played at Tucson High and graduated in 1991.
“We had crowds like this all the time; it’s good for the boys,” Langford said. “It’s good for the boys to play against competition like that. The atmosphere was great. A lot of my ex players were here, a lot of Tucson High alums were here.”
The scene was similar to when Mike Bibby and Phoenix Shadow Mountain came to Tucson to play Salpointe in a regular-season game during Bibby’s senior year with the Matadors in 1995-96.
“I’m glad for the city,” Langford. “They came out. I got a lot of in-boxes, ‘Do you have tickets? Can you get me in?’ It was fun to see them here.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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