Koa Peat's season was supposed to be over a week ago after breaking his shooting hand in practice.

But, there was no keeping the 6-foot-8 five-star recruit off the court to finish his Gilbert Perry basketball career.

Peat came off the bench for the first time in his four-year career, scoring 16 points and sparking top-seed Perry to a 76-57 rout of No. 5 Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor before an overflow crowd on Wednesday night at Scottsdale Chaparral.

"I’m just blessed to come out here and play my game,'' he said after the game.

Perry (26-2) will face No. 2-seed Phoenix Sunnyslope for the state title on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Perry will be seeking its fourth straight state championship and third since the Open Division playoff was introduced two seasons ago.

Last week, coach Sam Duane Jr., said that Peat's season was over, that he would need three to four weeks for his hand to heal. He missed the quarterfinal rout of Glendale Ironwood on Friday. But he wasn't going to finish his career as a coach on the bench.

"It was the will," Duane said about Peat's remarkable return.

Peat dressed out and warmed up, then sat next to Duane on the bench to start Wednesday night's Open semifinal.

Peat made his first appearance with 2:13 left in the opening quarter and Perry leading 10-7.

He made an immediate impact, scoring on a layup. Then, he dunked on transition to open the second quarter to give Perry an 18-14 lead.

He hit a soft jumper in the lane during a 10-0 run, then posted up UC Santa Barbara signee 6-8 Michael Simcoe for a basket as he was fouled. After converting the three-point play, Simcoe tried to do the same thing to Peat at the other end.

But Peat rejected Simcoe's shot, and Perry was off and running for a transition basket. Peat's presence felt, the rout was on.

"He changes everything," O'Connor coach Joshua Cole said of Peat. "He's one of the best players in the country."

Perry's halftime lead was 39-22 as Peat had 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He finished with 16 points and four assists.

D'Andre Harrison led the Pumas with 13 of his 24 points in the first half. Point guard NoNo Brown had 10 assists in the half, as O'Connor had no answer for Perry's transition game that was fueled by defense. O'Connor made only 28% of its shots in the half, as Perry shot 59%.

"I just let the game come to me," Harrison said. "I trusted my coaches' game plan. I trusted my teammates to get me the ball. And I did what I did.

"I feels good (to get back to the final), but we want that four-peat."

(Additional information was added to original story).