Geroge Loureiro is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Valley Christian by AZPreps365

Valley Christian started slowly but found another gear in the second half en route to a 72-50 victory over Chino Valley Saturday in a 3A second round game.

“We started out a little slow,'' said Jackson Risi, who scored a season-high 27 points. "We were still using our game plan pretty well. We just had to settle down and hit our shots and find a groove. But, we’re good at finding it with the help of Haagsma and the other coaches.'' 

The Trojans went into the half with a 33-24 lead..  

“We missed a few shots in the first and had to settle down coming out of the half and see what we could get out of the offense,'' said coach Greg Haagsma. "Also just press them and up the tempo.” 

Coming out of the half, the Trojans brought an energy that wasn’t there in the first with three steals defensively. no turnovers in the quarter.   

The Trojans moved the ball around more as five different players contributed to a 20-point quarter and shot 66% from three. Risi led the team in the quarter going 3-for-3 from the field with seven points.   

The Trojans went into the fourth quarter up 53-35 and put the Cougars away early with daggers coming from  Risi to extend the lead to 24. 

Players and fans from Chino Valley were irritated with referees screaming for calls. Play turned scrappier even with the game so far out of reach. 

Risi’s performance can’t be overlooked on a night when Valley Christian needed its second leading scorer to pull through.  

“I always think that I can have a night like tonight, and tonight I just got the momentum and kept rolling with it,” Risi said.