Power and Precision: Badgers’ Senior Stars Dominate in MLK Dream Classic

Story by Daniel Rios

Two things will stand out on the hardwood when catching a Prescott boy’s basketball game. One being a 6-foot-10 center who looks like a man among boys in most match ups or a 5-foot-11 guard trying to break the rim every chance.Those two would be seniors Zane Gaul and Uriah Tenette. The two are the horsepower for the Badgers this season and take every opportunity to show off their competitiveness – Monday was no different.The Badgers participated in the fifth Martin Luther King Dream Classic at Mountain Pointe HighSchool on Monday afternoon against the Barry Goldwater Bulldogs. The competitiveness was on full display for Gaul and Tenette, as they ensured it wasn’t close, the Badgers (8-1) handling business 89-26 against the Bulldogs (3-8).

“They’ve been in the gym since they were freshmen,” Badger head coach Travis Stedman said.”Zane and Uriah were starters as freshmen on the varsity team. Zane, specifically, is very vocal;he’s very competitive. Uriah is a ‘get on my back’ let me take you where we’re going. Zane is gonna tell you how to get there.” It took 10 seconds for Tenette to introduce himself to the crowd on Monday afternoon. Right after Gaul won the tip-off, the ball quickly found the hands of Tenette, who slammed it down for the dunk and woke up the entire arena.Tenette finished the game with 22 points and accounted for five steals, mostly leading to even more dunks. He even decided to try a windmill in the middle of the second quarter that didn’t fall.
He took the lead early and sustained it, but he still showed aggression and energy on the defensive end, competing until the very last second he was on the floor.
It’s not just the hardwood but the football field for Tenette Being a two-sport athlete is demanding but seems effortless for the guard. He accumulated 3,044 yards and 36 touchdowns this past offseason. Some of those football traits indeed show themselves on the basketball court.Aggression is one of them for him, as in the Badger’s full-court press, Tenette lets that natural aggression take over, making it hard for any guard to take the ball up.”Just go out there and play hard on both ends of the floor,” Tenette said. “Being out in front of the press that’s big for us. To finish plays, and that’s what we wanted to do …..The aggression,the physicality, I don’t feel like I’m small out on the basketball court just because I played
football.”