It took four extra minutes in front of a packed house at Snowflake on Tuesday night for the Lobos to hold off the Holbrook Roadrunners in boys’ basketball. Snowflake made all 11 of free throw attempts in the overtime session to close out Holbrook 64-53.
Snowflake’s Gannon Larson drilled a three-point field goal on Snowflake’s opening possession in overtime and from that point on the Lobos did the job at the charity stripe to earn the win.
Holbrook entered the game ranked eighth, just two spots behind the Lobos who were sixth and the game lived up to that top 10 match-up. Eric Baldonado drained seven points in the first helping the Birds stay within two points of Snowflake. The Lobos were paced by Larson and Stewart West, each with six in the frame.
Both teams again played evenly in the second with Baldonado netting five, and Anthony Nelson and Kobi Koerperich each connecting from distance. Michael Brimhall and Troy Brinkerhoff did most of the damage for the Lobos in the second helping the home team to a 32-29 halftime edge.
The second half was a thriller. The crowd, spurred on by great music selections during the timeouts was treated to a battle. Defense was the theme in the third where Holbrook went without a field goal and the Lobos scored just eight points, leaving Snowflake on top 40-31 with eight minutes left.
In the final eight minutes the Roadrunners wiped away that deficit behind solid play from Baldonado and two timely three-point shots, one each from Nelson and Cordell Begay, Holbrook outscored the Lobos by nine in the quarter sending the game to overtime which was controlled by the Lobos who secured the 11-point win.
Snowflake had three players all finish with 13 points. Larson, Troy Brinkerhoff and West completed a balanced Lobo attack. Devin Willis added 10; Michael Brimhall, 9; and Partick Henderson finished with 6. The Lobos made 14 of 18 free throws and hit two three-point shots.
Holbrook was paced by Baldonado who finished the night with 23 points. Koerperich added 10, Nelson, 8; Ethan Bahe, 5; Cordell Begay, 3; Damien Clark, 2; and Brandon Tapaha finished with 2 points. The Birds made nine of 15 free throws and hit six three-point field goals.
Snowflake improved to 14-5 overall and moved to 9-2 in power point games. Snowflake hosted Show Low on Friday night then will be at Winslow next Wednesday.
The Roadrunners dropped to 15-7 overall and are now 8-4 in regular season contests, having dropped two straight games.
