After shooting 52 percent from the floor in the first half to build a 17-point lead, the Sedona Red Rock High boys basketball team puked up a victory to the home favorite Monument Valley High on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 73-64.

After shooting 52 percent from the floor in the first half to build a 17-point lead, the Sedona Red Rock High boys basketball team puked up a victory to the home favorite Monument Valley High on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 73-64.

“We simply blew it,” senior guard Michael Krajnak said.

With the loss, the Scorpions drop their record to 5-5 [1-0] overall on the season.

The heart-wrenching loss was even harder to take since it took four hours on a big yellow bus to get home from Kayenta where Monument Valley High is located.

In the first quarter, Sedona jumped on the Mustangs, hitting their first six shots to take a 9-0 lead out of the gates.

The Scorpions continued to easily break the Monument Valley full-court pressure in the first quarter as they shot lay-up after lay-up to build a 20-6 lead heading into the second quarter.

“Their pressure is designed to make us play faster than we want to, but it didn’t affect us in the first half as we got off to a great start,” Sedona head coach Bob Murphy said.

The second quarter saw much of the same from the Mustangs as full-court pressure is the way they play the great game of basketball.

Sedona coughed up the ball a few times but continued to score at will and took a 34-17 lead going into the locker room.

“The first half for Monument Valley was an anomaly. They’re a high-scoring team so for us to hold them to 17 points was amazing,” Murphy said.

That “anomaly” didn’t last  long as the Mustangs got on their defensive horses and made the Scorpions turn the ball over 16 times in the second half alone for a total of 26 on the game.

The constant pressure finally got to Sedona as the silent home crowd seemed to feed off every steal and made-basket by the Mustangs and finally it all boiled over for Sedona.

“We needed to stay calm under that pressure but we just couldn’t do it,” junior forward Luke Dumyahn said.

Monument Valley outscored Sedona 24-16 in the third quarter to cut the Scorpions’ lead down to nine points, 50-41.

The Mustangs smelled blood in the water in the fourth and went on a 14-3 run to finally overcome Sedona as they took a 55-53 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the game.

The fouls Sedona committed slowed the game down and the ability of the Mustangs to make free throws equaled a 18-11 Monument Valley-run to end the game and complete the outrageous comeback, 73-64.

“We should have won that game but we became over-confident and let up a little bit,” Dumyahn said.

The Mustangs scored a massive 32 points in the fourth quarter and 56 in the second half to recover from only scoring 17 points in the first half.

“Our defense wasn’t very good against Monument Valley and at times we didn’t even know who we were covering,” Murphy said.

In the fourth quarter alone, Monument Valley was 18-22 from the free-throw line and 29-38 on the game.

Sedona was only 10-16.

“When our opponent makes more free throws than we attempt, it’s going to be hard to win,” Murphy said.

Standouts against Monument Valley included Krajnak who shot the ball fairly well, going 10-17 from the field for a game-high 30 points.

Krajnak also had five rebounds to go along with his seven steals and three assists.

Other standouts included sophomore Kevin Cox who had eight points, five rebounds and three steals and Dumyahn who scored only three points but had six rebounds and three assists.

Next up for the Scorpions will be their last game before Christmas break as they play host to Winslow High on Friday, Dec. 21.

Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Brian Bergner Jr. can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 131, or e-mail to bbergner@larsonnewspapers.com