Basketball Recap: Friday's Victory Is Fountain Hills' 17th in Last 21 Outings

Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Fountain Hills walked away with it. They came out on top against the Round Valley Elks by a score of 46-34 on Friday. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 103rd, while the Elks are ranked 287th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Sam Barnard

Rebounds (Career)

02/14/25 vs Round Valley	9
01/04/24 vs Gilbert Christian	7
02/03/25 vs BASIS Phoenix	5
01/07/25 @ Odyssey Institute	5
11/22/24 @ Phoenix Country Day	5

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Fountain Hills to victory, but perhaps none more so than Sam Barnard, who almost dropped a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. The dominant performance gave Barnard a new career-high in boards. Michael Fitzherbert was another key player, going 5-for-10 en route to 10 points and eight rebounds.

Fountain Hills has been performing well recently as they've won 17 of their last 21 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 21-7 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.8 points over those games. As for Round Valley, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 9-22.

Fountain Hills wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next contest, a 57-47 win against Veritas Prep on the 18th. Round Valley does not have any more games scheduled as of now.