A fast-paced and physical tone was too much for Camp Verde High School boys basketball team as it fell to Payson 67-37 Tuesday, Dec. 6, at home.
Down 32-23 at halftime, the Cowboys came out in the third quarter with a more aggressive defense in an attempt to create turnovers and opportunities on the fast break, but the Longhorns were up to the task, breaking it down and scoring 25 points in the frame.
“At the start of the third quarter we came out in a press and didn’t rotate well and they scored a couple easy ones off of that,” Cowboys head coach Dan Wall said. “They got some momentum and then we started rushing offensively and they started creating some opportunities out of the 1-3-1.”
Payson continued with their press and trap defense, putting a massive amount of pressure on the Camp Verde ball handlers that eventually led to easy turnovers and fastbreak points.
The Longhorns forced two consecutive turnovers and went on a 9-0 run at the start of the third frame that put the game out of reach with five minutes still remaining.
The Cowboys started off the game on the wrong foot as well, going down 10-0, but eventually stopped the bleeding and pulled the game back to 12-9 after junior guard Chase Decker sank a basket from beyond the arc and freshman forward Abelardo Gonzalez went to coast-to-coast after earning a steal.
Payson used its bench players to keep the high tempo and pressure, which led to a 18-12 advantage at the end of the first eight minutes.
In the second quarter Camp Verde began to match the Longhorns’ intensity, cutting the deficit to 20-16 a minute-and-a-half in by way of an inside basket from senior Drake Smith.
Back-to-back easy transition baskets by Payson forced Wall to call a timeout, and Gonzalez made his second three-pointer of the night to make it 26-19. Even though the Longhorns shot two-for-14 in the quarter, they found themselves at the free-throw line on eight different occasions, sinking eight of 13 attempts.
“At the end of the half we gave up a lot of dribble penetration,” Wall said. “We started coming out of our stances and a lot of them attacked the rim on us, so that hurt a little bit, and our shot selection was kind of poor right at the end of the half.”
Camp Verde was three-for-12 from the field in the frame, including a one-for-six effort from distance. They only shot three free throws, making two.
“In the first half we took way too many outside shots,” Wall said. ”Whenever we got the ball inside to our post and hit our cutters off the post, we were able to score pretty effectively. When we were just settling for just outside shots we were pretty poor offensively.”
Fueling the 25-point explosion by the Longhorns in the third quarter was senior forward Ryan Ricke, who scored 13 of his 20 total points for the game. At the midway point of the quarter he scored seven consecutive to expand his team’s lead to 22 points, 47-25.
At the end of the third, Camp Verde trailed 57-33, and their shooting woes continued, going two-for-10 from the field.
Both teams continued to push for a long stretch of the fourth, but the pace slowed as the minutes ticked by.
The visitors took the final quarter 10-4 to reach the final score of 67-37.
Leading the way for Camp Verde, who fell to 2-6 on the season, was Gonzalez with 10 points. Payson won the battle on the boards, with 29 rebounds versus 16 for the Cowboys, unofficially.
“We took a couple steps backward honestly tonight,” Wall said. “Although I wasn’t super disappointed with our effort in the first half; we played pretty hard. We have to get a whole lot better offensively and we have to fully commit to playing defense every possession to go be competitive the rest of the year.”
Sophomore forward Dayton Smith had few words to say postgame, reiterating that they needed to “slow down the ball, just slow down the ball.”
On Thursday, Dec. 8, the Cowboys began a four-game road stint, dropping the first game to Bourgade Catholic High School, 75-60.
The following day they took on Anthem Preparatory Academy, losing 45-39. On Tuesday, Dec. 13, Camp Verde took on the Chino Valley High School Cougars, but results were not available at press time.
The Cowboys finish out their road trip at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15, at Horizon Honors High School.
