Holbrook bounced back from the ALA Queen Creek loss during the break with a pair of impressive wins last week. Hosting Blue Ridge last Wednesday, the Birds used a strong start to pick up a 74-51 win. Holbrook netted 26 points in the first quarter led by Kobi Koerperich’s 13 points. Eric Baldonado added seven in the frame. In the second, Damien Clark picked up the scoring with 9 and Koerperich made his first half total to 20 with another seven. Holbrook led 45-21 at the break.
Playing with the comfortable lead, the Roadrunners traded buckets throughout the second half before finally settling on the 23-point win.
Koerperich led all scorers with 24. Running mate Baldonado added 21; Clark, 9; Zeke Begaii, 8; Anthony Nelson, 6; Brandon Tapaha, 4; and Ethan Bahe helped with 2.
Holbrook netted five three-point field goals and made seven of nine charity tosses.
Blue Ridge was led by Kadan Brimhall with 14 points. The Yellowjackets made eight of 16 free-throws and had just one three-point field goal.
Hosting Payson on Saturday, the Roadrunners had a sluggish beginning but before the first period ended, they were on top of the Longhorns 14-9. Holbrook’s defense stepped up in the second, holding Payson to just six points as Holbrook built their halftime lead to 29-15. Baldonado drained 12 second quarter points.
Baldonado added another dozen in the third period where Holbrook’s lead grew to 48-19. Payson was held to a total of eight points in the second half as Holbrook went on to win the game 60-23.
Baldonado scored half his team’s points ending the night with 30. Bahe added 10; Koerperich, 6; Damien Clark, 6; Nick Begay, 4; Nelson, 2; and Van Dewey had two in the win.
Holbrook made seven of 15 free-throws and hit three treys.
Payson made good on seven of 12 free-throws and failed to make a three-point shot.
With the two wins Holbrook improved their overall record to 13-5. They are also 7-2 in regular season games. The Roadrunners were ranked sixth in the 3A rankings prior to Friday’s win. After facing the Longhorns again on Tuesday, this time in Payson, Holbrook will host Winslow on Friday. Both the Bulldogs and the Roadrunners are expected to be ranking inside the top six by the time Friday arrives. Next week Holbrook travels to Snowflake for another top 10 match-up as the Lobos were ranked ninth last Friday.
