Playing in Payson on Tuesday night the Holbrook Roadrunners picked up a much needed regular season victory. Floating on the outskirts of the 24th overall ranking, the Roadrunners needed the victory to stay within reach of the top 24 in the standings. Their 60-55 win over the Longhorns may move them just a touch closer to that goal.
Things didn’t look good early for the visiting Birds as Payson ran out to a 14-0 first period lead before Eric Baldonado and Kobi Koerperich hit two treys late in the period to keep Holbrook within striking distance. In the second quarter the Birds closed the gap further thanks to a trio of triples from Koerperich in the second, along with another from distance by Tynen Thomas.
After trailing by just three at the half, Holbrook’s zone defense held Payson to just six points in the third allowing the Roadrunners to build a seven point lead heading to the fourth. In the final frame the Birds withstood five three-point shots from Payson in scramble mode as Holbrook held on to win by five.
Koerperich shot the ball well leading all scorers with 27 points, which included six from distance. Baldonado added 12; Thomas, 7; Terrence Kelly, 7; Jaren Jackson, 6; and Anthony Nelson helped with a single point. Holbrook finished the game with nine regular field goals and 10 shots from behind the arc. At the line they went 12 for 17.
Payson countered with seven three-point shots and went two for five at the charity stripe.
With the win Holbrook improved their overall record to 12-10 and went to 2-9 in power ranked games. The boys team traveled to face top ranked Blue Ridge on Friday, Jan. 19, then returned home on Saturday to host Page.
