Holbrook dropped a heartbreaker on Saturday afternoon in Fountain Hills. The Roadrunners were playing short-handed with Eric Baldonado out with an injury. That didn’t appear to make a difference in the first quarter, where the Birds jumped out to a 16-6 start. Kobi Koerperich netted half the Roadrunner points in the period but got into foul trouble and had to sit most of the second.
In the second, Fountain Hills took advantage pulling within one point at the half. Holbrook’s 26-25 lead vanished in the third where the Falcons outscored them by one knotting the game at 38-38 with one quarter left.
In the fourth Koerperich picked up his fifth foul with around three minutes left in a seesaw battle. Holbrook pulled ahead by four only to see the Falcons battle back and take a five-point lead. A pair of baseline jumpers by Nick Begay kept the Birds even late in the game. With the score tied at 51-51, with 10 seconds left the Falcons were fouled but missed the free throws. Unfortunately for the Roadrunners, Fountain Hills gathered in the offensive rebound on the second missed free throw then scored the winning layup as time expired, leaving Holbrook with a 53-51 loss.
Koerperich led Holbrook in scoring with 15 points. Damien Clark added 11; Begay, 8; Brandon Tapaha, 6; Ethan Begay, 6; Anthony Nelson had 4; and Quentin Thomas helped with a single point.
Holbrook made five three-point field goals but went just six for 15 at the line. Fountain Hills made three treys and went six for 13 at the line.
With the loss Holbrook dropped to 17-8 on the season and they are now 10-5 in regular season games. Holbrook was ranked eighth in the 3A rankings before the loss. Fountain Hills was ranked 21st.
Next week Holbrook wraps up the regular season playing at Blue Ridge on Tuesday, then will face Show Low in Mogollon on Thursday, Feb. 13.
