Basketball Recap: Sunrise Mountain Falls Despite Big Games from Marcus Murray and Caden Hammond

Sunrise Mountain lost against Liberty back in January and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Sunrise Mountain Mustangs took a 68-60 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Liberty Lions. 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 124th, while the Lions are ranked fourth).

Caden Hammond and Marcus Murray certainly did their best on Friday to avoid the loss. Hammond went 5 of 9 en route to 15 points and seven rebounds, while Murray posted 17 points. That's the most points Murray has posted since back in December of 2023. The team also got some help courtesy of Trey Hill, who went 5 of 12 on his way to 13 points.

Liberty's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Stephan Miller led the charge by putting up 20 points along with five boards and three blocks. Miller has been hot, having posted 20 or more points the last five times he's played. Jacob Hunter was another key player, posting 11 points and seven rebounds.

Sunrise Mountain dropped their record down to 3-6 with the loss, which was their third straight at home. As for Liberty, the victory keeps them at an undefeated 6-0.

Sunrise Mountain will head out to square off against Mountain Ridge at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Mountain Ridge is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 64.8 points per game this season. As for Liberty, they will host ThunderRidge at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. ThunderRidge also hasn't been messing around on offense: they've averaged 75.5 points per game.