Photo: Pedro Jimenez blocks the shot of Andrew Russell from the back while Jack Golleher aims at not letting Russell get any closer to the basket
The Prescott Badgers took over a close game with a big second half to sweep the season series with the Bradshaw Mountain Bears in a 72-54 win over the Bears in the Badger Dome.
The game resembled their first meeting when the Badgers scored 24 in the third and 19 in the fourth. They upped the ante by one this time in the third quarter by scoring 25.
Photo: 3 Cam Ranniker shoots for one of his four from downtown in front of the Badger student section. The senior fouled out after scoring 18 points.
Both teams struggled to shoot early as the game was tied at four nearly midway through the first quarter. Prescott went on a 12-0 run in the next two minutes to go up 16-4. The Bears got a three from Cam Ranniker, who was just coming off a school record 50 point performance against Lee Williams. The Badgers got a bucket from Jack Golleher to make the score 18-7 after one quarter.
The Bears led by Ranniker fought back to pull within 26-23 with 28 seconds left in the second quarter.
Photo: 35 Drew Jolley goes to the basket against 3 Cam Ranniker and 0 Kylin Jackson.
Prescott scored on an inside hoop by Jolley, but left enough time for Kylin Jackson to drill a three pointer as the buzzer sounded trimming the Badgers lead down to 28-26 at the half.
Jayce Cate’s basket to start the second half tied the score at 28 and Bradshaw Mountain had climbed all the way back.
The game continued to go back and forth and was tied at 33, when the Bears student section began to chant, “Where’s Uriah”, referring the record setting player Prescott Uriah Tenette who graduated a year ago.
Prescott responded with quick buckets from Caden Lozen and Jolley to go up 37-33. The Bears came back to take a 38-37 lead on a three from the corner from Andrew Russell.
Enter Pedro Jimenez, who just like at Bradshaw, came out and took over making plays on offense as well as the defensive end. Jimenez drilled a three pointer, then after a steal weaved his way to the basket to score again and Prescott led 43-38. Jimenez would make three free throws on the next two possessions to increase the Prescott lead to 46-38.
Finishing with 10 points, Jimenez said, “We started off kind of slow. I just wanted to come in and make some passes and make some shots, and make them work hard for their shots, anything I can do to help our team. “About beating the Bears again, Jimenez added, “It feels good. That’s our rival. Any win is a good win but when it’s Bradshaw its better.”
Prescott led 53-41 by the end of the quarter after going on a 15-3 run in the final 3:31 of the third.
The Bears lost Ranniker, who finished with 18 points, to fouls early in the fourth and the game continued to unravel for Bradshaw Mountain.
Photo: A Bear-Dog – Two Bradshaw Mountain students attempt to distract the Badgers at the free throw line with their version of an aggressive barking dog.
The Badgers meanwhile were having fun out there as the lead grew to 61-45 with four minutes remaining. The Prescott student section chanted “Back to JV”. The Bears student section responded with “What about football” in reference to Bradshaw Mountain beating Prescott in a football game.
Drew Jolley led the Badgers with 23 points and Jack Golleher scored 18. Jolley said, “We are a streaky team. We used our size to our advantage and it worked out. It was a good win. Just feels great to beat Bradshaw again.” In regards to a playoff possibility, Jolley said, “We need to finish strong in order to make it. I think we can be a dangerous team in the playoffs but first we have to get there.”
Prescott coach Travis Stedman said, “We rebounded really well tonight and took advantage of our size in the paint. We had a couple of hiccups in the first half and early part of the third, but we got it done.” About his 6’8” sophomore, Stedman said, “We look to Drew to score inside and he is really buying in and improving each game. In fact I would say he has improved the most of any player this season.”
Bradshaw Mountain fell to (2-6) and (3-12). The Bears will host Flagstaff on Monday at 7pm. Prescott (6-3) and (10-12) will travel to play Lee Williams on Tuesday at 7pm.
The 4A Division rankings have Prescott at #25 at the moment. The Badgers need to move up one spot to earn a play-in playoff game. Coconino is the highest ranked team from the Grand Canyon Region at #9. Mingus is at #15 and Flagstaff at #21. Prescott has one more game with each school.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 72, BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 54
BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN (54)-Jackson 6 0-3 13, Crawford 1 2-2 4, Ranniker 7 0-1 18, Ball 3 2-2 8, Hrdlicka 0 1-2 1, Russell 2 0-0 5, Fouse 0 0-0 0, Baker 0 0-0 0, Fleming 1 0-0 2, Cate 1 2-2 4. 21 6-12 54
PRESCOTT (72)-Stedman 1 4-6 7, Lozen 4 0-0 8, Diener 1 0-0 2, Jolley 8 7-9 23, Golleher 7 2-3 18, Tenney 1 0-0 2, Jimenez 2 5-11 10, Molnar 0 0-0 0, Kleinman 1 0-0 2, Dicker 0 0-0 0. 25 18-29 72.
Score by Quarters- 1 2 3 4 – T
Bradshaw Mountain 7 19 15 13 – 54
Prescott 18 10 25 19 – 67
Fouled Out-Ranniker
Technical Foul-Ranniker
Total Fouls- P 17, BM 24
Three Pointers- P (4)-Golleher 2, Stedman 1, Jimenez 1.
BM (6)-Ranniker 4, Russell 1, Jackson 1.
GRAND CANYON REGION STANDINGS
School- W-L W-L
Coconino 10-0 18-4
Flagstaff 5-3 14-9
Prescott 6-3 10-12
Mingus 8-2 20-5
Bradshaw Mountain 2-6 3-11
Mohave 1-9 4-17
Lee Williams 0-9 1-14
The Trinity Christian Warriors rallied from a 12 point first quarter deficit to beat the Ridgeline Academy Eagles 47-38 in Phoenix.
Trailing 21-9, the Warriors put together a strong second quarter to pull within 26-19 at the half. Trinity Christian trimmed three more points off in the third quarter to get within 36-32.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Warriors as they allowed just two points in the final eight minutes for the win to improve to (12-4) on the season. Ridgeline Academy falls to (10-4).
Trinity Christian will host Phoenix College Prep on their Prescott campus on Tuesday at 7pm.
BOYS BASKETBALL SCOREBOARD
Prescott 72, Bradshaw Mountain 54
Trinity Christian 47, Ridgeline Academy 38
River Valley 90, Chino Valley 35
Arcadia 72, Saguaro 62
Barry Goldwater 57, Shadow Mountain 44
Cactus Shadows 90, Marcos de Niza 59
Crismon 60, Poston Butte 53
Deer Valley 81, Estrella Foothills 45
Dysart 79, Yuma 44
Grand Canyon 61, Mayer 46
Mingus 72, Mohave 52
