Thanks to two wins last week the Roadrunners remain one of eight unbeaten 3A boys’ teams heading into this week.
Holbrook enters this week 5-0 in regular season games thanks to wins over Round Valley and ALA Gilbert North last week. On Thursday night the Birds were in Springerville where they held a 10-point lead over the Elks at the end of the first. Quentin Thomas was on fire early, scoring 14 points in the first period alone. In the second, Holbrook slowed on the offensive end until a late three-pointer from Kodiak Daw sent the teams to the break with Holbrook on top 28-19.
In the third, the Roadrunners poured in 23 points and held the Elks to just 11, building their lead to 51-30. They closed out the game in the fourth to win it 63-40.
Thomas led the team in scoring with 25 points. Noah Brown added 17; Caden Tom, 10; Nick Begay, 6; Daw, 3; and Sam Francisco helped with 2.
Saturday afternoon the team hosted ALA Gilbert North who they had lost to in overtime at a Thanksgiving tournament. This time Holbrook played well early, then held off a late charge to defeat the Eagles 49-44.
Holbrook jumped out to a 16-3 lead through the first period. Thomas had three driving layups and hit a long-range bomb, scoring nine of Holbrook’s first period points. In the second, Brown netted four as did Tom, helping the Birds hold a 28-19 lead.
In the third quarter, Thomas added five to his total but ALA trimmed a point off the lead.
In the fourth Holbrook had some careless turnovers and they failed to make a single field goal in the final eight minutes. The Eagles took advantage, cutting the lead all the way down to a single point before Brown was able to seal the game for good at the free throw line in the final seconds of the 49-44 Holbrook win.
Brown led the team in scoring with 17 points. Quentin Thomas added 15, Tom, 10; Stran Bain, Francisco and Daw each had 2; and Kyle Smith made one free throw.
Holbrook made 16 of their 24 free throw attempts. The Eagles really hurt their chances at the line where they made just 10 of 22 attempts.
With the win, Holbrook moved to 13-2 overall with all 13 wins following their two season-opening losses. They will put that 13-game winning streak on the line three times this week.
After playing at Payson on Monday to open East Region play, they will host Chinle on Wednesday then welcome in Show Low on Friday. Next Tuesday they travel to Lakeside to take on Blue Ridge.
