Winners of nine in a row, the Sedona Red Rock High School boys basketball team couldn’t get things going Monday, Feb. 1, losing to a tough Williams High School squad, 68-65.
“Williams is a good team. They are tough and well coached. We made some mistakes and ended up paying for them in the end,” third-year Sedona Head Coach Bob Murphy said.
A few of those mistakes were the 20 turnovers the Scorpions committed against Williams
[15-3] on Monday, 12 of which came in the first half.
The Scorpions came into Monday night’s game confident since they beat the Vikings on their home court Dec. 11, 61-55.
Since Dec. 31 when the Scorpions beat Show Low High School [77-59] in the last game of the White Mountain Winter Classic at Blue Ridge High School, Sedona has been on a roll.
In Monday’s contest however, the Scorpions failed to lock Williams down defensively. The Vikings hit seven three-point baskets in the first half alone to take a 38-33 lead at halftime.
Sedona found itself up 23-15 after the first quarter of play, breaking the Vikings press with ease and getting layups.
Led by Junior Esparza, the Vikings caught fire, however, in the second quarter, outscoring the Scorpions 23-10 to take the 38-33 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Williams kept the pressure up offensively making shot after shot to outscore Sedona 15-11 in the third quarter to lead 53-44 heading into the fourth.
“They shot the ball well offensively. Sometimes we were in their face and they were still knocking shots down,” Murphy said.
Down 59-53 with 3:18 to go, senior Pedro Ortega Jr. recorded his first steal of the night, picking the pocket of Williams’ point guard Doug Forbis and laying it in to make it 59-55.
A few minutes later, senior Martin Galvez, who returned to the game after receiving treatment for a cut over his eye, stole the ball and passed it to senior teammate Kevin Cox, who layed it in with 1:23 to go to bring the Scorpions within one basket, 61-59.
With 32 seconds to go, senior Thomas Wisbey got a big offensive rebound off a missed three pointer by Galvez to make it 63-61 but from then on, Williams would seal the deal from the free- throw line.
The Vikings were 10-11 from the charity stripe in the last four minutes of the game.
Ortega was fouled shooting a three-pointer with 10.1 seconds to go and made two of three from the line to bring it within three at 66-63.
Williams bent, but didn’t break and went on to win, 68-65.
Standouts included Cox who had 22 points and nine rebounds with four blocked shots while Wisbey had 13 points and four rebounds.
Junior Troy Loparco had an excellent game with 12 points and five rebounds while junior Blake Barker had seven points and five rebounds.
With the loss, Sedona drops to 16-8 overall on the season and is ranked No. 6 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association power point polls, which were released Tuesday, Feb. 2.
The Scorpions wrap up the regular season Wednesday, Feb. 3, when they play host to Valley Christian Academy.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Streak History
With the loss to Williams on Monday the Scorpions winning streak stopped at an amazing nine consecutive victories.
It is the longest streak since the 2000-2001 campaign when Sedona won 12 in a row.
The longest streak in Sedona boys basketball history came the season before in 1999-2000 when the Scorpions won an amazing 17 straight.
Sedona lost in a Christmas holiday tournament that season, then didn’t lose again until playing in the 2A conference state semifinals at United Airlines Arena, which was then known as America West Arena, against Scottsdale Christian Academy.
Sedona was 27-2 that season.
Brian Bergner Jr. can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 131, or e-mail bbergner@larsonnewspapers.com
