It took a half court buzzer-beating heave in the championship game but the Roadrunners claimed the title at the Round Valley Roundball Shootout over the weekend.
Holbrook went 6-0 over the course of the three-day tournament, picking up pool wins over St. Johns and Leading Edge on Thursday. The St. Johns game was a dominating effort by the Roadrunners, who won 64-23. Noah Brown led the Holbrook attack with 25 points. Nick Begay helped with 12 and Quentin Thomas added 7 in the lopsided win.
Holbrook matched their 64-point output on Thursday night with a 30 point win over Leading Edge. Brandon Tapaha led the team in scoring with 17 points. Brown netted 15 and Thomas reached double figures with 10.
Holbrook’s first bracket game came early Friday morning and resulted in a 57-28 win over Cibecue. Holbrook controlled the game early, netting 25 first period points then cruised the rest of the way. Izzy Ramos, Kodiak Daw and Tyler Tapaha all came off the bench to lead Holbrook in scoring with 10 apiece.
Their next match-up on Friday afternoon was supposed to be a tough battle with east region foe Show Low. The Cougars have a size advantage on Holbrook, but at least in this game, the talent advantage swung heavily to Holbrook in a 72-41 Roadrunner win.
Five players scored in double figures for Holbrook. Caden Tom netted 17; Thomas, 16; Brown, 13; Brandon Tapaha, 12; and Begay also netted 12.
With the Show Low win, Holbrook advanced to the semi-final round on Friday morning where they met up with Blue Ridge and moved past another east region member with a 20-point win at 49-29. Brown led the way for the Birds with 23 points. Thomas netted 13.
In the championship game, Holbrook met up with the only other team that had won all their games in a decisive fashion. Silver City New Mexico was a talented group with size that would battle the Roadrunners all the way through the title game.
Holbrook led 18-14 through the first. Holbrook held that margin in the second and led 35-31 at the break. In the third, both teams struggled from the field with Silver City outscoring Holbrook 7-3. As low scoring as the third was, the fourth period more than made up for it. Silver City scored 19 in the fourth and up until the final second Holbrook had managed 15. However, with the score knotted at 58-58 Silver City held the ball for what they thought would be a last shot opportunity. When their three-point attempt missed, Brandon Tapaha secured the rebound then made a pass up court to Brown on the run near the half court line. Brown caught the ball took the allotted two steps and let it fly just short of the half court line. The buzzer went off while the ball was in the air, and moments later it found nothing but net. Brown’s half court shot as time expired gave Holbrook the tournament championship much to the delight of the many Holbrook fans in attendance. Brown finished the game with 28 points, but the final three were the most sensational.
Thomas fought through foul trouble in the first half and finished with 14.
Brown was named the tournament MVP, and Brandon Tapaha was selected to the All Tournament Team.
Prior to the tournament, Holbrook played host to Ganado on Tuesday night. The Roadrunners easily secured their third regular season win against no losses with a 78-30 home court win.
Brandon Tapaha led the team in scoring with 19 points. Brown added 12; Tyler Tapaha, 11; Begay, 10; Kodiak Daw, 9; Caden Tom, 7; Izzy Ramos, 6; and Stran Bain added 4
Holbrook is now 11-2 overall having completed both of their mid-season tournaments. They are 3-0 in regular season contests. Holbrook will play their final game before January when they host Chinle on Friday night.
