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Two quick three-point shots in the opening minutes, a fierce fourth quarter comeback, a strong performance off the bench, clutch free throw shooting from a senior and thousands of screaming fans all added up to Hol-brook’s first state championship in 40 years when the Roadrunners defeated Fountain Hills 49-43 on Saturday night at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.
Top ranked Holbrook faced second ranked Fountain Hills and its tall line up in front of a reported 16,000-plus fans, and when Kory Koerperich sank two three-point bombs out of Holbrook’s first four buckets, the par-tisan Holbrook crowd saw the Birds jump out to a 13-5 first period lead.
In the second period the Falcons’ twin towers, both measuring over 6’7”, started to get control of the game with their size advantage. Holbrook was held to just two field goals and three free throws in the second and trailed 21-20 at the half.
The third period was even bleaker for Holbrook as the Birds tallied just one Rashaun Baldwin bucket and a single free throw from Jalen Jackson while the Falcons built as much as a 15-point lead and still led by 13 points heading to the final eight minutes.
Just over two minutes into the fourth period, with the Falcons seemingly en route to a fourth title in seven years, Roadrunner fans saw the tide begin to turn in their favor. Jeffrey Bonner, the Falcons’ top overall player who had been handling Holbrook’s pressure throughout the game and had scored 15 points up to that point in the contest, went down with an ankle injury and left the game for three minutes. When he left the court Hol-brook trailed 40-29, by the time he returned in the final minutes, his team led just 40-39. During that span, a lot of things happened that propelled the Roadrunners to the title. Baldwin stepped up his defensive pressure, forc-ing a steal and scoring a layup. His intensity seemed to light a flame, and the Birds exploded. Torrian Epps came off the bench for Coach Raul Mendoza and took the ball to the bucket twice, converting a three-point play on the second drive.
Jackson buried a three-point shot from the corner to pull Holbrook closer and the Roadrunner defense held the Falcons without a field goal in 12 consecutive trips down the floor as they erased the 13-point deficit and took the lead. With the crowd of mostly 3A North fans at full throttle, senior Koerperich sank six free throws in the final minute to seal the win for the Roadrunners and bring the gold ball back to Holbrook for the first time since 1971.
Holbrook scored just 23 points in the first three periods combined. In the final eight minutes the Roadrun-ners scored 26 points, nine of which came from Epps.
Free throws win games, and Holbrook converted 15 of 17 attempts in the fourth quarter to pull even and eventually win the game and give the town its second basketball state title.
Koerperich led the team with 12 points making two early three point shots, then hitting six of eight free throws in the fourth period. Epps came off the bench to score 11, nine of which came in the decisive final min-utes. Baldwin netted 10 and also shot well at the line in the fourth, making all four of his free throws. Jackson scored just nine, but had some big rebounds late in the game. Blake Maestas hit a buzzer beating three at the close of the first period. Bryson Keoni played solid defense and scored two points. Ilacian Johnson scored just two points, but battled much bigger players throughout the night on defense and helped hold both to just 10 points. Joey Aguilera didn’t score, but gave the team some strong defensive minutes against much bigger play-ers.
F Hills 5 16 15 7 43
Holbrook 13 7 3 26 49
The Roadrunners end the season as 3A State Champions with an overall record of 29-5.
