Cortez will once again be represented at the annual Basketball Congress International Tournament.

The Cortez Roundball team has participated each of the past two years with good results. Two years ago, Cortez won 4 and lost 2 in the Under 14 age division (Little Swishers) in the National BCI Tournament in Dallas. Last year they were 2-4 in the same division at Colorado Springs. This year’s team will move up to the U-16 bracket. The tourney will be held July 23-28 in the Springs for the second year in a row.

"This is a week-long tournament," coach Bob Archibeque said. "A lot of the games will be held at the Air Force Academy, Rampart and Lewis-Palmer high schools. In this tournament, there will be 40-60 teams in various age divisions from around the country."

The Cortez team qualified for the elite tourney by finishing third out of 16 teams at the Southwest BCI Tournament which was held a few weeks ago in Albuquerque. Cortez won its pool by beating the eventual tourney winner New Mexico Heat from Albuquerque. They lost to them in bracket tourney play and then worked their way back through and placed third, beating a team from Santa Fe.

Cortez will take a sparkling 25-3 record going into the national event. During the regular season, the local team won the Montrose Tournament, the Cortez Tournament, and the Atkins Tournament (in Grand Junction) during the Amateur Athletic Union regular season. They then competed in the Southwest BCI Tournament.

Members of the team are Mike Rivas, James Durnin, Kyle Archibeque, Jeff Anderson, Marcus Mortensen, Devin Perkins, Kyle Chandler, and Cody Dinae.

"We are trying to give these kids an opportunity to play teams at a level they don’t see around here," Archibeque added. "Most of the teams, as an example, are all-star teams from cities such as Denver (MLK’s) and they will recruit out of seven or eight different high schools. All our kids are from one high school (Montezuma-Cortez) but we have been able to hold our own.

"This tournament is good for them and it’s good for us. We know there is a pretty good future here with these kids. We want to give them as much exposure as possible," Archibeque remarked.

The team is looking for businesses and individuals to help them defray some travel expenditures.

"We are looking for anyone who would like to donate some money. This is a week-long tournament. We are doing some fund-raisers (a car wash is planned June 16 at Wal-Mart parking lot). They can phone me at 565-4858 if they would like to help out," Archibeque commented.

Rivas, Archibeque, and Mortensen played with the MCHS varsity a year ago as freshmen. Mortensen started while Rivas and Archibeque came off the bench. For the Cortez Roundball team, Rivas plays small forward, Archibeque plays post and Mortensen point guard. Durnin plays strong forward. Jeff Anderson is a utility player who can play all positions. Devin Perkins plays off-guard and some point. Kyle Chandler plays one, two or three. Cody Dinae plays strong forward.

"We run a lot of things the varsity does. We will run the flex offense used by (head boys basketball coach) Wade Mortensen. We will run his zone offense. We will press the same and run his zone defense. What we do is not exact but it’s close," he said.

What makes the Cortez team good is that they are all good shooters, according to Archibeque.