The Holbrook Roadrunners ousted the Winslow Bulldogs from the Arizona State 3A Conference Boys’ Basketball Tournament with a 62-55 win at Glendale last Friday. The loss ended a Winslow’s fine season with a record of 28-7 for the season and sent the top seeded Roadrunners into the championship game on Saturday against Fountain Hills, an 86-38 winner over Monument Valley in the other semifinal game.
Holbrook played an excellent defensive game and led most of the way. An 11-0 run at the end of the second quarter put the Bulldogs into an impossibly deep hole from which they never recovered. The game was close in the first period, which ended with Holbrook leading 16-13 but a second period that saw the Roadrunners score 11 straight in the closing moments and build a 33-17 halftime lead decided the contest. The margin grew to 45-30 in the third period and even a 25-point fourth period by the Bulldogs was not enough to ever put the outcome in doubt.
Kraig Shirley led all scorers with 23 points for Winslow, but he had been silenced in the early going and scored 18 of those in the closing quarter. Jevon Estelle was also in double figures for Winslow with 11 points but he, too, was silenced in the early going with only two points in the first half.
Jalen Jackson paced the Roadrunners with 19 points, including an important 10 in the second quarter that built Holbrook’s big advantage. Kory Koerperich scored 15 for the Roadrunners and both those players were deadly from the three-point line. Ilacian Johnson tallied nine for the Roadrunners.
Winslow 13 7 10 25 55
Holbrook 16 17 12 17 62
Winslow: Kraig Shirley 27, Jevon Estelle 11, Johnnie Woods 3, Tyler Williams 7 and Tremayne Nez 7.
Holbrook: Blake Maestas 4, Kory Koerperich 15, Rashaun Baldwin 6, Hector Yazzie 2, Torreon Epps 6, Ilacian Johnson 9, Joey Aguilera 2 and Jalen Jackson 19.
