|
||||
|
Jan. 29, 2001
STAFF REPORT Montezuma-Cortez High School’s varsity boys basketball team swept a pair of Southwestern League games Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26. The Panthers routed fellow Class 4A team Montrose 89-61 Friday night and dropped Class 5A Grand Junction High 69-61 on Saturday afternoon. Cortez completely dominated from the get-go by taking a 23-15 lead after the end of the first quarter. They led 43-36 at the half. The Panthers out scored Montrose 44-25 in the second half. "We played well in the first and third quarters. It was hard stopping Montrose’ wide-open attack," MCHS head boys coach Wade Mortensen reported. "They played us close but we steadily started pulling away." The Panthers got balanced scoring as Marcus Mortensen gunned in 20, Gabe Evans came off the bench to score 12, Mike Rivas chipped in 11 while Layne Frazier, Kyle Wilson, and Jeff Anderson each added 9. Kirk Archibeque also was right behind them with 8. "We had a well-rounded night scoring. We played a strong game offensively," he added. Coach Mortensen, though, was not pleased with the fact that Zach Smith scored 21, mostly from the inside. Grand Junction High played without two starters who had suffered injuries but still managed to play well against MCHS. The Tigers gave notice they were going to battle when Jason Varley scored a basket and three free throws and Dane Swenson hit the second of his five first-half 3-pointers to cut Cortez's lead to 15-11 by the end of first period. The Panthers maintained their advantage through halftime on the strength of a pair of Jeff Anderson treys and two Kirk Archibeque baskets. But the lead stayed at four primarily because of three Dane Swenson shots from downtown. MCHS led 32-28 at the break. MCHS came out playing well early in the third quarter and slowly started pulling away. The Panthers led 51-45 at the end of the third. MCHS scored some early baskets in the fourth but made just two baskets over the final eight minutes. But Grand Junction, trying to play catch-up, put Cortez on the free-throw line 19 times. The Panthers converted all 15 at the end. "It was a tough game," Mortensen reported. "We did not shoot the ball well, nothing like the night before. Grand Junction shot the ball very well and it kept it close." Swenson led all scorers with 23 points while Brady Butler added 17 for the Tigers. Cortez had a balanced effort with Evans scoring 14 points, Anderson 13, Marcus Mortensen 12 and Archibeque 11. "Our bench is scoring a lot of points and playing well for us. We have a lot of kids contributing right now," he said. Grand Junction picked up its second victory in as many days Saturday, holding off a fourth-quarter challenge from Montezuma-Cortez for a 52-42 decision. Stephanie Coleman tallied four points in the first minute and she added two more towards the end of the period to take a 14-7 lead. She finished the night with 18 points. Cortez, meanwhile, had problems scoring from the field, going one-for-9 during a first-half stretch before sinking four-of-five field goals to pull to within four points. Kara Olsen's three-point play began an eight-point run for the Tigers to take a 30-23 lead at the half. The Panthers turned the ball over several times early in the third and continued with a shoot slump in the fourth. But MCHS’s Amanda Frazier got hot and pumped in some three-pointers late in the game. With three minutes remaining, her last trey cut the Tigers' lead to 48-40. Frazier finished with 12 points, all coming in a span of less than four minutes in the fourth quarter. The Tigers adjusted on defense and cut Frazier off. Stefanie Allison scored 11 points for MCHS. The Panthers were dominated by Montrose 51-29 Friday night. Jenny Evans scored a game-high 16 and was the game's only player to reach double figures in the Indians' Southwestern League win. Montrose used an 18-2 run in the first quarter to set the pace for the remainder of the game. The Panther boys and girls will visit rival Durango for a league game beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1.
|
||||
|
Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
