Holbrook three-peats at Round Valley Shootout

EAGAR, Ariz. – Make it three in a row for the Holbrook boys basketball team.

The Roadrunners three-peated as champions at the Round Valley Roundball Shootout on Saturday night.

Holbrook went 5-1 during the three-day, 14-team invite as the Roadrunners avenged their only blemish at the tournament with a 49-44 win over the Pima Roughriders in the title game.

“We came here to win this,” longtime Holbrook coach Delmar Johnson said. “We played Pima the first night and they beat us 45-40. They had played a great first half and they took us out of everything.”

In the rematch, the Roadrunners (10-4) flipped the script behind the play of junior post Tyler Tapaha, who put in seven of his game-best 23 points in the opening quarter.

“This means a lot because we’ve been winning this tournament since I was a freshman three years ago,” said Tapaha, who was named the tourney’s MVP. “We took this tournament with some guys that went to final four in the state tournament.”

Those guys have all graduated as the Roadrunners are in the midst of a rebuilding year. All told, Holbrook lost nine seniors from a squad that went 50-11 in the two years they played under coach Johnson.

“Those guys did a lot for the program, and they went back-to-back as juniors and seniors here at the Round Valley Roundball Shootout,” the Holbrook coach said. “Now, Tyler’s a three-time winner. I felt that we could win this tournament again even though Tyler is the only returning player.”

Tapaha played an influential role for the young Holbrook team throughout the contest. His three-pointer at the 1:55 mark of the opening quarter earned Holbrook a 14-4 cushion.

In the second stanza, Tapaha helped break down Pima’s defense and assisted Jaron Becenti who buried a couple of long-range shots as Holbrook led 26-15 at the break.

“I thought we played well in that first half, but we should have opened the lead up,” Johnson said. “We made some turnovers and we made some bad decisions as far as passing, but other than that Tyler kept them poised.

“He settled them down and that is what I need from him,” he added. “He’s the biggest piece to the puzzle. I mean, there were times I had him initiate the offense to get guys open.”

Late in the third, Holbrook opened its largest lead at 35-19 when Becenti hit his fourth trey of the night.

The Roughriders cut that 16-point deficit down to five, 41-36, on a three-point play from junior post Clark Ashby with 3:08 left in the game.

Down the stretch, the Roadrunners put the ball in the steady hands of Tapaha as he scored six of Holbrook’s final eight points.

“Tyler does it all for us,” Johnson said. “Whatever you want to call it, he’s the center-point guard on this team. He even blocks shots.

“He’s probably the best help side defender on our team,” he added.

In addition to Tapaha’s 23 points, Holbrook got 14 points from Becenti.

“I’m just so proud of these guys, of what they accomplished tonight because everybody’s gonna count us out since we graduated nine seniors last year,” Johnson said. “Hopefully this is something that can get these guys on the right track and continue to take this momentum and see what we can get once the region starts.”

Johnson believes his team can be one of the top eight seeds in 3A, something they’ve accomplished the previous two years.

“We’re going to take it one day at a time, working on everything that we need to work on,” he said. “We want to take care of the little things, so the little things won’t become big things.”

As for the upcoming 3A East, the Holbrook coach pointed out that everyone in the region is rebuilding.

“Some teams have more returners than we do, but it’s going to be a battle,” he said. “Snowflake, Show Low and Payson are tough and we’re not going to take anyone lightly.

“I’m looking forward to the 3A East,” he added. “It’s going to be a dogfight, and I would love to win it again. That will give us the 3A East Region three years in a row if we can possibly win it again.”

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