Prescott’s Uriah Tenette drops 23 in 55-40 win over rival Bears
January 8, 2024 by Brian M. Bergner Jr., AZPreps365
PRESCOTT — Uriah Tenette and Zane Gaul each scored 23 points and Prescott used a 24-4 second-half run in a 55-40 win over cross-town rival Bradshaw Mountain on Monday night.
It is the fourth straight win for the Badgers (13-3, 3-0 4A Grand Canyon), which await their placement among the top teams in the state when the AIA releases its initial power point rankings Tuesday at noon.
The Bears led 25-22 at halftime thanks to some solid defense and controlling the tempo offensively for the first 16 minutes of play.
But the third quarter was a different story as Prescott pieced things together and outscored the Bears 19-4.
“We came out kind of stagnant in the third quarter. … We played their game, honestly. We let them get out in transition and stopped executing,” Bradshaw Mountain forward Mason Hunt said. “They just took it to us in the third quarter.”
Hunt finished with 20 points, 12 of which he scored in the first half.
FINAL: Prescott 55, Bradshaw Mountain 40. Uriah Tenette and Zane Gaul each score 23 to lead Badgers. Mason Hunt nets 20 for Bears. Prescott uses 24-4 second half run to take the 1st of 2 in this rivalry. These two hook up Jan. 25 in PV. @ActivitiesBmhs @PTownAthletics #AzPreps365 pic.twitter.com/vdbsqmfoPZ
— Brian M. Bergner Jr. (@AzPreps365Brian) January 9, 2024
Overall, Tenette capped a 24-4 second-half run with a nifty spin move down the lane to give Prescott a 49-29 lead with 5:30 to play in the fourth.
“We didn’t come out the way we wanted to. In the second half we had a better mentality and got the job done,” said Tenette, who scored 11 of his 23 in the third quarter.
Gaul said the Badgers played “down to their speed” in the first half.
“We played their game and not ours. In the locker room at halftime, coach got on us and it really flipped a switch,” Gaul said.
The 6-foot-11 center scored 10 of his team’s 14 points in the fourth quarter.
Prescott head coach Travis Stedman mirrored his player’s thoughts.
“Styles make fights,” Stedman said. “In the first half, we got caught in their style. And, we’re really bad at playing their style. They know that. Conversely, they’re not great at playing our style. We went into halftime to reinforce that, and be ourselves.”
“Things change really quickly when we pick up the pace,” he added.
UP NEXT
With a little over three weeks left on the schedule, Prescott has nine of their 10 remaining contests against Grand Canyon region foes, four of which are at home, including Flagstaff (Jan. 11), Coconino (Jan. 23), Lee Williams (Jan. 26) and Mingus (Jan. 31).
Prescott travels to Kingman to face a Lee Williams (8-6, 1-2 4A Grand Canyon) club coming off a 63-62 win over Mingus in Cottonwood last week.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
Bradshaw Mountain (12-5, 3-1 4A Grand Canyon) had won four straight coming into Monday night’s game. They’ll travel north to play Flagstaff on Wednesday, Jan. 10, with a 7 p.m. tip.
Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on Twitter @AzPreps365Brian. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.
