The two most heated rivals in the Verde Valley clashed on the court in the first of two meetings between the teams this season, and the battle came down to the very end.

The Camp Verde Cowboys [7-16] and the Mingus Union Marauders [9-12] matched shot-for-shot in the game at Camp Verde on Thursday, Jan. 17, in a fan-filled gymnasium. The game could have gone either way as the adrenaline of the players pumped up the crowd, but the Marauders took a lead in the final minutes and the Cowboys just couldn’t catch up.

“They were just flat out phenomenal,” Marauders Head Coach Mark Owens said. “I mean, they made big plays on defense, big plays on offense, bench production, starter production. They played with emotion. They played smart. Anything you could ask [of] them as a coach. It was good. It was fun.”

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Jan. 23, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.