Photo: 1 Uriah Tenette looks to pass while splitting defenders 23 Mauricio Holguin and 4 Mason Hunt
The Prescott Badgers put together a strong second half, that included a 17 point run to knock off the Bradshaw Mountain Bears 55-40 in the Badger Dome at Prescott High School.
Uriah Tenette and Zane Gaul both scored 23 points for Prescott in a tale of two halves. A slow start by the home team along with an active offense by Bradshaw Mountain, allowed the Bears to take advantage of some good looks at the hoop. Add the fact the Bears were able to get some rebounds resulting in second and third chances, helped the visitors open up a 6-0 lead at the start, then leading 16-9 early into the second quarter.
Prescott trailed 25-17 before the Badgers hit their only three of the night when Danian Bernardo got one to drop. Then Tenette drove around three defenders to layup the ball in at the buzzer, closing the gap to 25-22 at the half.
Photo: 10 Zane Gaul is challenged by Jayden Blasczyk
The second half saw the Badgers come out with more energy and defensive pressure as Bradshaw Mountain just struggled to score. Prescott got their first lead of the game with five minutes left in the third when Gaul sunk a pair of free throws for a 28-27 lead.
A combination of cold shooting by Bradshaw Mountain along with steals and fast break buckets by Coley Fundalewicz, Cooper Magnett, and three in a row by Tenette, as the Badgers outscored the Bears 19-4 to lead 41-29. In fact the Bears went the final three minutes of the quarter without a basket.
Prescott kept Bradshaw Mountain scoreless for another four minutes while building a 49-29 lead after the 17-0 run. Mason Hunt, who led the Bears with 20 ended the drought when he nailed a three point shot to make it 49-32.
The Badgers slowed the offense to run some clock as they took the first game of the season series by 15.
Zane Gaul, who had his seventh double-double on the season with 23 points and 10 rebounds said, “Coach was not happy with us at half. We needed to flip on the switch and in the second half we did that. They presented us with an offense we really hadn’t seen this year, so we made the adjustments and that opened things up for us.”
Arizona high school state scoring leader Uriah Tenette said, “We started off slow, but the adjustments we made at halftime got us back on track. We played with more energy and took advantage of opportunities given to us.”
Cooper Magnett said, ”I think the nerves, not nervous nerves, but excitement nerves, got to us a little bit, but coach came in with a really good halftime speech. Really got us fired up, really got us honed in on the fine details. We came out and got it done.”
Prescott improves to (3-0) and (13-3) while Bradshaw Mountain falls to (3-1) and (12-5). The two teams will meet again in Prescott Valley on January 25. Meanwhile the Badgers will travel to Lee Williams tonight before returning home to face Flagstaff on Thursday. Bradshaw Mountain will travel to Flagstaff tonight, will then host Coconino on Thursday.
The first AIA basketball rankings came out today with the Badgers sitting at #7. Other Grand Canyon Region teams are Bradshaw Mountain is #17, Lee Williams #19, Coconino #20, Flagstaff #27, Mingus #36, and Mohave is #41.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 55, BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 40
BRADHSHAW MOUNTAIN (40)-P. Ranniker 4 0-0 9, Hunt 6 6-7 20, Blasczyk 1 0-0 2, Stouder 0 0-0 0, Holguin 3 2-2 9, Crawford 0 0-0 0, C. Ranniker 0 0-0 0, Brambila 0 0-0 0, Jackson 0 0-0 0. 14 8-9 40.
PRESCOTT (55)-Magnett 1 0-0 2, Tenette 11 1-1 23, Fundalewicz 1 0-0 2, Diener 0 0-0 0, Gaul 10 3-9 23, Lyon 0 0-0 0, Bernardo 2 0-0 5, Contreras 0 0-0 0, Schuster 0 0-0 0. 25 4-10 55.
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Bradshaw Mountain 13 12 4 11 – 40
Prescott 8 14 19 14 – 55
Total Fouls- BM 7, P 9
Fouled Out-None
Three Pointers- BM (4)-Hunt 2, P. Ranniker 1, Holguin 1. P (1)-Bernardo
GRAND CANYON REGION STANDINGS
School- W-L W-L
PRESCOTT 3-0 13-3
Flagstaff 3-0 8-9
Bradshaw Mountain 3-1 12-5
Coconino 3-2 6-10
Lee Williams 1-2 8-4
Mohave 1-4 5-9
Mingus 0-5 7-11
SCOREBOARD
Coconino 63, Mohave 40
Deer Valley 80, Peoria 46
Flagstaff 73, Mingus 62
Saguaro 62, Coronado 48
TONIGHT SCHEDULE
PRESCOTT at Lee Williams, 7pm
Bradshaw Mountain at Flagstaff, 7pm
4A RANKINGS Top 10 W-L
1 Deer Valley 12-2
2 St. Mary’s 10-6
3 Mesquite 13-3
4 ALA-Gilbert North 9-4
5 Sahuaro 13-2
6 Thunderbird 11-4
7 PRESCOTT 13-3
8 Dysart 13-3
9 Cactus 11-2
10 Mica Mountain 12-2
