Second-half comeback lifts Seton Catholic past Rams

“In the first half, we did such a better job of attacking them,” Maricopa coach Andy Branchik said following the Class 4A-II East Sky Region match-up. “In the second half, we stopped attacking and we started settling for our jumpers. And unfortunately, our jumpers weren’t falling tonight.”

Justin Warren finished with 19 points to lead the Rams, who also got 16 points from Travis Brown and seven each from Marcus Lowe and DeVaughn Elledge.

After the Rams built a 33-24 halftime lead on the strength of a 12-0 scoring run in the second quarter, the visiting Sentinels came back after the intermission to pull ahead 40-37. Maricopa answered by scoring seven consecutive points (five by Elledge and two by Warren) to retake the lead at 44-40.

Seton Catholic (9-11 overall, 1-3 in the 4A-II East Sky Region) went ahead to stay at 47-46 on a drive to the basket by Brett Refner with 5:50 remaining in the fourth quarter. After the Sentinels increased their lead to 57-51 with 2:15 left, the Rams (5-13, 0-6) closed within 57-55 on a layup by Warren and a turnaround jumper in the lane by Brown.

Carlo Robles, who led Seton Catholic with 19 points, made four free throws in the final 42 seconds to seal the win for the Sentinels.

“We just have to put a complete basketball game together,” Maricopa co-coach Charles Litt said. “Our kids played hard. We played great defense. But we play in halves. We play in spurts. Teams come out of halftime and they change their pressure, and we have to handle that pressure better.”

Maricopa will play its next three games on the road – at Tempe on Tuesday, at Gilbert Higley on Friday and at Scottsdale Coronado on Jan. 18. The Rams’ next home game is scheduled for Jan. 21 against Phoenix Arcadia.