Holbrook boys pull away from Fighting Scouts in season opener

FORT DEFIANCE

The Holbrook boys basketball team raised its level of play in the second half on Friday night.

The Roadrunners led 20-15 at the break and in the second half they got some stops to pull away with a 50-36 win over the Window Rock Fighting Scouts.

“I had to light a fire under them,” said Holbrook coach Delmar Johnson, whose team improved to 2-0 after Saturday’s 55-46 win over Tuba City. “In the locker room, I told them we had to play defense, we had to rebound and we had to know what we were doing. Plus, we had to make layups and we had hod to make open shots and pressure the ball a little bit more.”

The longtime coach said those factors were the difference in the ballgame but he also noted that Window Rock senior Jaylen Brown got injured while going after the ball.

“He’s a pretty good player and I think it hurt them a little bit, but we just came out of halftime doing exactly what I wanted them to do,” Johnson said. “Toward the end, I got JV players trying to be varsity players and you saw that will all the unforced turnovers with ball pressure when we dribbled out of bounds.”

The Roadrunners were led by its two veterans in senior Travis Bia and junior Manny Rico as the duo combined for 23 points with Bia scoring a dozen. Holbrook also received a big jolt from senior Brady Becenti, who hit three treys for nine points.

“Manny and Travis are my returning starters and I’m gonna win or lose with them,” Johnson said. “They’re my two captains and those are the two guys that I have to lean on to run things at the end of the game to keep us in control.

“As you saw, we got kind of sloppy in the last two minutes,” he added.

The two veterans combined for nine points in the third stanza as Holbrook used a late 10-5 run to gain some separation. Early on, Window Rock stayed within striking distance for the first three minutes of the second half as the Scouts pulled within 24-20 on a basket by senior post Dominic Antonio, who finished with a game-best 15 points, with 4:29 left in the period.

Holbrook, however, started that late rally with two-point basket from Bia and the lead was pushed to 29-22 following a 3-pointer from Becenti.

After a putback by Antonio, the Roadrunners closed the period on a 5-1 run, which included an old-fashion 3-point play from Rico with 2.3 seconds left that earned the visiting team a 34-25 cushion.

Holbrook picked up where it left off as they started the final period on a 14-4 run which was highlighted by a pair 3s from Becenti for a 48-29 cushion with just over three minutes left.

“I’m happy with what we did, especially with what we did in the second half,” Johnson said. “In the first half, everybody was trying to go one-on-one, but you have to play with each other.

“You have to trust each other and make the simple pass,” he continued. “When we started doing that, we started making layups and then we got wide open 3s. And that helps when you’re passing the ball and you’re getting other guys shots.”

With a young team, Johnson is expecting to have some growing pains at the start of the season. Holbrook is scheduled to play in the Ben Franklin Thanksgiving Classic down in the Valley on Friday and Saturday. The Roadrunners are also entered in the Round Ball Basketball Tournament at Round Valley High School Dec. 11-13.

“Inexperience is probably a big thing for us but, you know, we just have to get better every day in practice and understand that it’s not gonna be easy,” Johnson said. “You’re not gonna always win pretty, but other than that as long as we get the job done and they continue to listen and do the things that I ask, then I don’t see us having any problems.”

Holbrook played Ganado on Tuesday night but results for that contest were not available as the paper went to print. Window Rock was also in action on Tuesday as the Scouts hosted Alchesay.

The Scouts return six varsity players from last season and head coach Ashley Mitchell has added six new players to her team.

“Three of my returners were my starters last year,” Mitchell said before the start of Friday’s game.

The returning starters are seniors Makye Gilbert, Jaylen Brown and Dominic Antonio as two of them earned 3A North postseason recognition last season with Brown being selected as the defensive player of the year while Gilbert made the all-region, first-team.

The Window Rock coach was also excited to have seniors Craig and Trevor Yazzie on the team as the two St. Michael Indian School transfer did not play varsity.

“They dominated on the JV team and we could have used them last year,” she said.

The Scouts are playing in two tournaments, starting with the Farmington Marv Sanders Invitational Dec. 11-13 and the Epic Tourneys New Years Classic Jan. 1-3 in the Phoenix metro area.

“New Mexico teams are always great to play because they’re a little bigger,” Mitchell said. “We’ll play teams that are in 5A in Farmington like Piedra Vista and Canyon High School. They’re good and they’re very solid.

“I’m excited about playing in the Epic tournament, too,” she added. “All the teams are knowledgeable teams.”

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