There was some bad news and some good news for Sedona Red Rock High School’s boys basketball team in its home game against North Pointe Prep on Saturday, Feb. 13. The bad news was that the Scorpions came away from the game feeling that their effort was flat. The good news was that the effort was still good enough for a win.

Despite some occasional struggles, the Scorpions won all four quarters and ultimately defeated the visiting Falcons by a convincing 57-36 margin.

Picking up the win was especially vital for a Sedona team that had suffered a frustrating 54-45 loss to Scottsdale Prep the night before.

“It’s very important — I want to see what this team is made of,” SRRHS coach Pedro Ortega Sr. said. “We had a talk last night — that’s over. We need to start focusing again because I need the same energy and intensity that we had the previous night. I want to see what we’re made of. Obviously, we showed that we can bounce back and play a good game with a lot of energy, which is what we need.”

Leading 26-19 at halftime, the Scorpions were in need of some separation in the third quarter. They got that, winning the third quarter 16-11. Most of those points came from senior guard Jaiah Grondin, who finished the quarter with 14 points and led all scorers with 23 for the game. Junior center Dorian Stevens grabbed 15 rebounds and narrowly missed a double-double, scoring nine points. Senior forward Joey Johnson had six points, 12 rebounds and a team high five steals. Senior guard Jamie Alagna led his team with six assists. Junior forward Alberto Sanchez scored only two points but was an all-around contributor, adding six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

“Defensively we were kind of slacking in the beginning of the game,” Johnson said. “We needed to step that up, buckle down and get some steals. And that’s what we did.”

Something for the Scorpions to work on will be their shooting. None of the starting five cracked the 50% mark on field goals. Sedona also shot only 4-for-13 on free throws.

“This game was a little bit rougher than we would have liked it to be,” Grondin said. “But in the end we won and that’s kind of what matters at this point. We’ve got to work on free throws and hitting the layups the first time.”

One of the perks of the Friday and Saturday games for the Scorpions was that, despite the season being nearly a month old, they were the first home games all season. That was due to not only a road-heavy early schedule but also early season cancellations.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the only people in the crowd were parents/guardians of the athletes and the girls teams from both schools.

Still, getting to play in their home gym was a welcome change for the Scorpions.

“Home sweet home,” Ortega said. “Even though you have fewer fans, it’s better than no fans at all. It was a plus with everyone cheering for the team. It was a good atmosphere.”

SRRHS was in action again on Tuesday, Feb. 16 for a road game with Glendale Prep. In that game, the Scorpions lost to the Griffins, 71-44.

Sedona now sits at 4-4 overall. The Scorpions are 3-3 in 2A Conference play and in the 2A Central Region.

The Scorpions will next be home for a freedom game against Camp Verde, their former region rival which is now a 3A school. That game will be on Saturday, Feb. 23, and is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. That game will be streamed online at Zcalsports.com and on the Zcalsports.com Facebook page.