Sophomore guard Ben Cook was well aware of his team’s perception going into the weekend. Sedona Red Rock High School was ranked No. 44 out of 48 eligible 2A Conference teams in the first Arizona Interscholastic Association rankings of the season that were released on Wednesday.
“It’s a little bit embarrassing,” Cook said, adding that he checks the rankings often. “If you want to contend to go to state, it’s not where you want to put yourself.”
Cook showed teammate Max Metzger, who shared similar sentiments.
“I was like, ‘wow, we’re that low, geez,’” the junior guard laughed.
While harsh, the words for a rebuttal were tough to find. The Scorpions were 0-4 in the regular season. The struggles with scoring were objective. They had failed to score more than 40 points in three of those four contests. With the results Sedona had put on the table, there was no arguing the low ranking. All the Scorpions could do to prove they’re better than the tenth percentile of 2A teams was to show it on the court.
They did that with flying colors. The Scorpions rattled off two huge wins on Friday and Saturday behind huge performances from Cook, who has vaulted past the “breakout” moniker into a full-fledged star at the 2A level. He had 29 points with seven threes in Friday’s 77-52 domination of 2A Central region rival North Pointe Prep. He followed it up with 19 points and five triples in Saturday’s 62-52 upset win over 3A Chino Valley.
“I did use [the rankings] as motivation,” he said after Saturday’s victory. “We luckily came out here Friday and then today and got wins that will hopefully bump us up.”
The Sedona Red Rock Scorpions from Saturday night couldn’t have looked more different than the team from the first four games. The Scorpions played graceful, smart basketball with flowing ball-movement. Rather than forcing shots from the spots they liked, as the Scorpions did earlier in the year, they took what the Chino Valley defense gave them. Sedona passed the rock until the open shots presented themselves.
“We were trying to find out who we are,” head coach Pedro Ortega said. “[Our identity is] working within our offense. And obviously everything starts with the defensive end. I put emphasis on that every time.”
Few heard that emphasis like sophomore center Joan Rodriguez. Taking over the “dirty work” duties for senior Dorian Stevens, who missed both games due to an ankle injury, Rodriguez played brilliant defense against a much more sizable Chino Valley squad.
It all came to a climax midway through the fourth quarter Saturday. Up 11 on Chino Valley with the momentum on the Cougars’ side, Rodriguez chased down Chino Valley senior Riley Roskopf as he marched to the bucket and delivered an emphatic block to keep the lead in double digits. The play earned the approval of the wild Sedona student section, and a wide grin from Ortega.
This was the team the Scorpions had been picturing from the get-go.
“We were trying to learn how to trust each other,” Rodriguez said. “But now we got it right here. We’re settled.”
The new-look Scorpions hope to get Stevens back ahead of a five-game homestand coming up. The first of which comes up on Saturday night, when Sedona faces perhaps its biggest remaining challenge on the schedule when No. 2 Scottsdale Christian comes in for a game at 7 p.m.
