Sedona Red Rock High School’s boys basketball team hosted Camp Verde on Saturday, Feb. 20, looking to follow up the victory from the girls team with one of their own to sweep the Cowboys. Unfortunately for the Scorpion boys, that was not in the cards.
Unable to get its offense going, Sedona fell behind big in the early going, trailing 32-18 at halftime. Camp Verde built on that lead in the third quarter and went on to hand the Scorpions a 73-46 victory.
“There was a sense of panic out there,” SRRHS senior forward Joey Johnson said. “We just didn’t flow together. It seemed like there was no chemistry.”
The game against the Cowboys marked the first time this season that Scorpions got to play in front of fans, beyond just parents and the players on the girls and junior varsity teams.
Sedona senior Jaiah Grondin felt that the fans, as well as playing against a local rival, might have contributed to the Scorpions being a little over-hyped.
“We were really anxious, I think,” Grondin said. “We turned the ball over way too much. We were just freaking out with the ball. It was all in our mind tonight. It was awesome having everybody here but I think that also got to us. Our adrenalin was going so much and we couldn’t control ourselves.”
Another issue for the Scorpions was that they got in foul trouble. Sedona’s starting center, junior Dorian Stevens, fouled out in the third quarter. Grondin didn’t foul out but had four fouls in the first three quarters. That helped the Cowboys attempt 27 free throws and also forced the SRRHS team to be less aggressive defensively, which opened things up for Camp Verde.
Grondin led Sedona with 17 points, Johnson had 12 and senior guard Jamie Alagna had nine. There was very little help from the Scorpions beyond that as no other SRRHS player finished with more than four points.
The loss dropped Sedona to 4-5 overall. The Scorpions also hold a 3-3 mark in the 2A Conference and 2A Central Region.
Next up for SRRHS is a pair of games with Valley Lutheran. The Scorpions played at home on Tuesday, Feb. 23, while the Flames will be home on Wednesday, Feb. 23. Sedona will then be home for Senior Night against Northland Prep on Friday, Feb. 25, and will finish the season at home against Glendale Prep on Monday, March 1. All remaining games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Entering the game with Camp Verde, the Scorpions sat at No. 24 in the AZPreps365 rankings. With a spot in the top 24 needed for Sedona to qualify for a play-in game, those four games will offer little margin for error for the Scorpions.
“We’ve got to really focus on these next four games,” Grondin said. “We have to win three of them in order to even think about it. I think we can do it but we need to get in the gym and focus on key things like passing, staying calm under pressure and making our shots.”
“We’ve got to elevate our games and start peaking at the right time,” added Johnson. “Next week, we’ve just got to take it to another level.”
