CHINO VALLEY — Jordan McMahon-Fullmer scored 37 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to lead No. 23-ranked Camp Verde past Chino Valley 75-54 on Wednesday night.

It is the third straight win for the Cowboys (13-8, 3-3 3A North Central), which trailed 25-15 midway through the second quarter but changed things up defensively by going zone, a decision that flipped the script on a hot-shooting Cougars club and they never recovered.

“We couldn’t defend. They started hot, give them a lot of credit. They hit six threes to start the game. But sometimes, change of pace does something. It was worrying me because they were shooting so well,” Camp Verde head coach Dan Wall said, nodding to the fact that usually a team comes out of a zone and plays man-to-man defense when their opponent is hitting from deep.

“It’s a very odd change. But the kids did a good job getting their hands up on shooters. The change of pace helped. Then we got confidence in transition, which helped on offense. That allowed us to climb back in the game,” Wall said.

Camp Verde used a 14-5 run over the last 6 minutes of play in the first half to trail 30-29 at halftime, but a 3-pointer by Tristan Clarke with 6:30 to play in the third quarter gave the Cowboys a 36-33 lead and they never looked back, outscoring Chino Valley 39-21 the rest of the way.

“That first quarter we shot lights out. Then we lost our shot. That 2-1-2 that they ran confused us a lot out there on the court. We kept pulling back … they made adjustments an got in the way,” Chino Valley head coach Jim Hall said. “Our shots weren’t falling when we got them in the second half.”

Clarke finished with 17 points.

As for Fullmer, the 6-foot-6 junior dropped 22 of his 37 in the second half, including two big 3-pointers during a fourth quarter that saw Camp Verde outscore the Cougars 23-13.

“I feel like we played good in the second half. The first half, we started off slow. But it’s all about how you finish,” Fullmer said.

Javier Johns led Chino Valley with 20 points on four 3-pointers, while Benjamin Sibole added 16 points, including back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter to put his team ahead 20-13 after the first eight minutes of play.

In all, Chino Valley hit 10 3-pointers.

UP NEXT

Camp Verde is scheduled to host Phoenix Country Day on Saturday, Jan. 20. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

The Cougars (4-9, 2-3 3A North Central) head to Scottsdale Christian on Saturday at 7 p.m.

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.