Panther boys sweep

Panther boys sweep; girls split loop games

Jan. 22, 2002

ERIKREINERS of Fruita-Monument tries to balance on one leg during a scuffle for a rebound with Layne Frazier of Montezuma-Cortez High School on Friday night. Sean Claffey (No. 34) of Fruita-Montezument looks on. The MCHS boys, who are now 10-1, won 71-50.

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

The Panther boys varsity basketball team and the Montezuma-Cortez High School girls varsity basketball team both received good marks after the opening weekend of Southwestern League play on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 18-19, in Ron Wright Memorial Gym.

Cortez boys improved to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in SWL with relatively easy wins over a good Fruita-Monument team 71-50 on Friday night and 64-40 over Central of Grand Junction Saturday afternoon. MCHS girls defeated Fruita 49-37 but fell to Central 56-35. MCHS girls are now 7-5 overall and 1-1 in league.

The boys actually trailed early against the Warriors, falling behind 5-0 with 6 minutes, 41 seconds to play in the first quarter. However, they took the lead at 7-5 when Gabe Evans came off the bench to nail a three-pointer with 3:24 remaining. Cortez slowly starting pulling away when Layne Frazier scored underneath to make it 11-5 with 57 seconds left. MCHS led 13-10 when time expired.

Matt Schmitt of Central cut the Panther lead to 13-12 at the 5:57 mark when he it both ends of a one-plus-one. Chris Johnson gave Central a short-lived 14-13 lead at 5:32 when he also made both one-plus-one free throws. Kirk Archibeque put the Panthers ahead 17-16 for good on a pair of charity tosses. Again, Cortez slowly pulled ahead but this time it would be for good. The Panthers’ matchup defense and man defense were just too much for the Warriors. In fact, the Warriors were held without a field goal in the second period. Mike Rivas made a second-effort putback which gave MCHS at 19-16 lead. Kyle Chandler’s trey from the wing put Cortez on top 25-17. Cortez led 27-17 at the half.

Cortez continued to stymie the Warriors. Finally, Central’s Mike Ashcraft nailed a three with 3:19 left. Jeff Anderson gave the Panthers a comfortable 31-19 lead with a pair of free throws at which point Central called time-out at 2:25. Frazier made a reverse layup underneath for a 33-19 advantage at 1:38. Brad Gonyeau hit a three from the top of the key but Cortez led 33-22. Evans, though, responded with a three on the Panthers’ next trip down the floor. Cortez led 40-22 when the third period ended.

Early in the fourth quarter, the fourth technical on the game was called by the officials. Central head coach Tom Burns received one and so did Schmitt. MCHS head coach Wade Mortensen and Marcus Mortensen both received technicals as well during the game. With Cortez now comfortably ahead, Marcus Mortensen hit two threes on successive trips down the floor which gave the Panthers a 48-25 lead. Mortensen’s two free throws with 2:12 left gave the Panthers a 55-33 lead. At that point, coach Mortensen cleared his bench.

Mortensen led the team with 16 points, Frazier dropped in 12, and Archibeque 9. Johnson led Central with 11.

The Panthers opened league play Friday night with a resounding defeat of Fruita. A tough defense by the Panthers limited the Wildcats to only six points in the second quarter. Cortez, though, was only up 16-15 when the first period closed. Kyle Wilson scored underneath immediately after the quarter started to put the Panthers up 18-15. Mortensen’s three from the wing gave Cortez a 21-15 lead. Cortez confused the Wildcats with their matchup and man defenses. Fruita continued to lose balls and the Panthers converted several of those. Fruita did close the Panther lead to 25-21 when Andy Barnard made both ends of a one-plus-one with 3:49 to play. Mortensen canned a bucket right at the buzzer which gave the Panthers a 27-21 lead at the intermission.

Back in the first period, Eric Reiners, who was playing with the flu bug, put Fruita on top 5-4 after he hit a three with 4:16 showing. Wilson’s pair of charity tosses with 4:03 left gave the Panthers back the lead at 6-5. The teams traded threes when Kellen Walters connected for Fruita and Mortensen hit for Cortez. Reiners layup put Fruita up 11-9. Mortensen’s old-fashioned three-point play gave the Panthers a 16-15 with 24 seconds left.

Cortez opened up a six-point lead at 31-25 early in the third quarter when Frazier made a layup under the basket. Reiners and Evans traded threes on successive trips down the floor for their respective teams. Archibeque’s pair of free throws put Cortez up 41-30. Wilson scored off an alley-oop in-bounds pass and then a few seconds later on the next trip down the floor he made a putback. Cortez led 45-36 with 1:42 showing. Walters kept the game close at 45-39 when he canned two threes in a row. Cortez led 48-39 when the period closed.

Wilson made a layup to open the fourth quarter for a 50-39 advantage. Wilson later drove the baseline for a layup and a 56-41 lead. When Mortensen made a pair of free throws, Cortez held a 60-45 lead with 3:52 left. Cortez increased its lead to 69-50 with 1:03 left when coach Mortensen cleared his bench.

"It was probably one of our better defensive efforts of the season," Coach Mortensen said following the game. "We did not get that balanced scoring that I would like. I was surprised at how many threes Fruita made. The game was at lot closer on account of those scores. It was a good way to start league play."

Mortensen scored 22 points and Wilson added 19. Reiners paced the Wildcats with 17 and Walters added 9.

The Panther girls fell behind 7-1 at the 4:03 mark in the first period but then the MCHS offense snapped into gear. When Brittney Whiteman made a trey, the Panthers were back in the game, trailing only 7-6. But Fruita’s Ashley Hammond got hot and drilled two threes in a row for a 15-6 lead at 1:01. Fruita led 15-8 when the quarter was over.

Whiteman buried another three early in the second period which pulled the Panthers to 18-13. Stefanie Allison scored a layup on a give-and-go which put Cortez behind 18-16 with 4:25 left. Lindsey Wilson tied the game with a layup at 18-all. Allison’s layup with 1:41 put Cortez ahead 22-20 and the score stayed that way to the break.

Cortez attacked the basketball well in the third period. Allison scored an old-fashioned three-point play and then followed that with a three-pointer which put Cortez up 28-22. Cortez then made some costly turnovers which the Wildcats converted. MCHS’s lead was cut to 30-25 at the 4:37 mark. Casie Johnson’s putback put Cortez up 34-25 with 2:01 to play. Johnson followed that up with a layup off a nice assist pass from Allison. That basket gave the Panthers a 36-25 lead. Amanda Frazier knocked down a three just before the quarter ended which made the score 39-25.

Kara Stengel scored twice which cut the difference to 10 at 39-29. MCHS head coach Stan Yake called time to regroup. Leslie Reed trimmed the Panthers’ lead to 39-32 with an old-fashioned three-point play. Fruita was on a 7-0 run at that point to start the fourth quarter. Hammond and Frazier traded threes. When Frazier hit hers, the Panthers led 42-35 at 3:58. The Panthers went into their delay game and were patient in cutting time off the clock. For much of the rest of the way, Cortez was constantly at the free throw line. Had they made some early, they could have salted the game away a lot earlier.

Allison paced all scores in the game with 19. Whiteman chipped in 9 and Johnson 8. Hammond had 12 points and Reed added 11 for Fruita.

"They are improving with every game," Yake commented after the game. "It was a good all-around effort. It would have been nice if we could have hit a few free throws to ice the game a little earlier. We moved the ball well on offense and we played pretty good defense."

It was all Central on Saturday morning in the girls’ game. The Warriors, who are the preseason pick to win the league title, were just too strong for the Panthers. Central jumped out to a 3-0 lead but Allison cut the difference to 5-4 at 4:22 when she made a trey. Cortez, though, got frustrated and started making miscues. Lindsey Kame nailed a three from the top of the key to put Central up 13-4 with 2:05 showing. Allison made a putback just before the period ended, but Cortez trailed 13-6.

Willow Peppel, one of the top girl hoopsters in the state, made a putback to put Central up 18-6 early in the second quarter. Lindsey Wilson made a nice layup which cut the score to 18-8 but Central continued to dominate. Central increased its lead to 23-8. Right at the end of the period, Nikki Koloff was fouled after the buzzer and calmly went to the line to make three straight free throws which gave Central a 26-10 lead at the half.

Allison opened the third quarter with a pair of free throws. Peppel put Central up 30-12 after she nailed a 12-foot jumper. When Abby Kirkham drilled a three, Yake called time-out with Central up 35-16 with 2:47 on the board. Frazier made a three from the top of the key which made the score 35-21. Whiteman made a three at the buzzer which made the score 37-26.

Nicole Stephens canned a trey but the Warriors led 42-29 mid-way in the fourth. Central increased its lead to 53-32 after going on a 9-3 run. Stephens did make a nice baseline drive for a layup which made the score 53-34 with just over a minute to play.

Stephens led the Panthers with 10 and Allison chipped in 9. Peppel popped in 13, Koloff 10, and Kame and Mariah Nieslanik 8 each.

The Panther boys and girls visit Montrose Friday, Jan. 25, and then go up to play at Grand Junction High Saturday morning, Jan. 26, for league games.