While other basketball teams use the two-week holiday break to test their readiness for the postseason or pad win totals, Sedona Red Rock High School, after just a 3-6 record in games that don’t count against its power ranking, is done with its two such forays into holiday tournaments.

In fact, if the Arizona Interscholastic Association is any judge, the Scorpions [7-6] have proven their power enough in their four other games, in which they have gone undefeated after their best shooting performance of the season, a 60-55 home win Dec. 17 over rival Camp Verde High School.

“We haven’t played that hard in a game all year,” head boys coach C.J. Sells said after his varsity nailed 14 of 15 free throws to secure the victory. “We had a nice little spurt to end the second quarter, then we came back out and said, ‘We’ve just got to get stops and rebound.’”

After that victory, in which junior Walker Cox led nine Scorpions scorers with 14 points, the Division IV power ranking for SRRHS rose all the way to No. 5.

“I think we came out ready to play, [but] early, I didn’t think we were taking good shots,” Sells said. “Everything was on the perimeter. When we got into it with some dribble penetration to get a little easier looks, we kind of got back into it.”

So the Scorpions’ shot selection, among other factors, will be tested Monday, Jan. 4, when they usher in the second half of their season with a special trip to the home of the Phoenix Suns, Talking Stick Resort Arena.

There, SRRHS will face its toughest non-tournament challenge yet, playing a division up against a high school on its own roll, Prescott.

The Division III Badgers [8-4], solidly-ranked at 14th in their own right, come into the contest on a two-game winning streak after handing fourth-ranked Holbrook High School its first loss, 73-58, on
Dec. 21.

Sells is looking to build on his most impressive win of last season, in which SRRHS overcame Prescott’s 6-foot, 10-inch center Aric Fredlund, 52-50, in the final game of the Scorpions’ home tournament, the Red Rock Hoops Classic.

Scoring balance is the Scorpions’ chief asset, and the one that makes them the most difficult to scout or defend.

“I’ve got 10 kids that can play,” Sells said. “If you practice, you play.”

But even though Fredlund has graduated, the Scorpions will still need to hustle for rebounds to beat the bigger Badgers, who have two 6-foot, 4-inch senior guards.

One, Tyler Bell, hit a 24-foot three-point shot as time expired Dec. 5 to give Prescott its most memorable win to date this season, a 68-67 victory over Mingus Union High School in this season’s Red Rock Hoops Classic.

Both teams have had their share of early-season stumbles, as a 63-29 loss at Scottsdale Christian Academy most severely affected Prescott’s power ranking.

The Scorpions scored just 25 points in a 21-point loss Dec. 11 to host Wickenburg High School at the Cage Classic.

They then followed that up Dec. 12 with a 63-40 trouncing at the hands of Raymond Kellis High School.

Tournament play was kinder to the Badgers than it has been to the Scorpions, but Prescott still lost to Snowflake High School, 86-64, in the second game of the Classic.

The Badgers finished fifth with a 3-2 record in the Classic after a four-point loss to Cactus High School, while the Scorpions ended up with a 2-3 mark in their home tournament after losses to Page, Payson and Blue Ridge high schools.

“We weren’t rebounding: We were just standing out and watching jump shots,” Sells said Dec. 17. “Toward the end, I kept getting fresh bodies in.”

To win Jan. 4, Sells will need to continue rotating and getting balanced contributions from every player up and down his 11-man roster.

That means a healthy Hayden Bruce. The sophomore guard, who rainbowed in a couple of three-pointers against CVHS, has been slowed by the flu in practice.

Sophomore shooting guard Michael Ortega was the second-leading scorer against the Cowboys with nine points, but he is not the perimeter threat Bruce has shown so far.

“With the exception of the one Michael turned over trying to dribble through the double-team, we actually took care of the basketball,” Sells said. “At the end, when they kept getting some of those long rebounds of shots, I remember thinking, ‘Take as many of those as you want, as long as the clock’s running.’”

That also means continued high activity from the defensive stoppers along the perimeter. The energy of junior guard Randy Rodriguez, who chipped in six points Dec. 17, helped turn the tide on an early eight-point deficit to the Cowboys.

Freshman Chase Saczalski and sophomore Sebastian Morales each had two crucial fourth-quarter jumpers against the Cowboys. They will be looked to by Sells to chase Bell and fellow senior Matt Mendibles like they did senior Javier Perez, one of the state’s most prolific scoring guards, Dec. 17.

It means that the Scorpions’ few big men will need to play above their height. Cox and his brother, sophomore Winston Cox, appear up to the task.

But forwards Dawson and Wyatt Stevenson and sophomore Wyatt Gregson will all need to play above their top height of 6 feet, 3 inches tall. Of those three, only Gregson, with six points, got in the scorebook Dec. 17.

“We won’t sneak up on them again,” Sells said. “Not this time.”

For more photos, please see the Wednesday, Dec. 30, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.