Basketball Recap: Trey Hill's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Sunrise Mountain over Ironwood

Sunrise Mountain lost against Ironwood back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Thursday. The Sunrise Mountain Mustangs took a 69-60 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Ironwood Eagles. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 123rd, while the Eagles are ranked 12th).

Several Mustangs players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Trey Hill, who went 7 for 13 en route to 18 points. Another player making a difference was Caden Hammond, who went 6 of 12 on his way to 14 points and six boards.

Even though they lost, Sunrise Mountain was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. This was only their tenth loss (out of 16 games) when they've passed the ball that well.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Ironwood to victory, but perhaps none more so than Josh Dillard, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds. Dillard is on a roll when it comes to boards, as he's now pulled down ten or more in the last four games he's played. Carsyn Dean was another key player, putting up 13 points.

Sunrise Mountain has traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four games, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-12 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.5 points per game. As for Ironwood, the victory was the sixth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 14-5.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Sunrise Mountain has already played their next match (against Lake Havasu), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Ironwood will head out to face off against Willow Canyon at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Willow Canyon is on a five-game streak of home wins, Ironwood a five-game streak of away wins -- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the court.