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Dec. 21, 2000 BY JIM THOMAS
FARMINGTON — Any time a team can win on the road is a plus. But to also upset a school that is much larger makes the win all that much sweeter. Montezuma-Cortez High School varsity boys basketball pulled off a thrilling 61-59 win over the Scorpions at Farmington High Gym Tuesday night, Dec. 12. "We played a great second half," MCHS head coach Wade Mortensen said immediately following the game. "They overcame the pushing and shoving and responded to it positively. Despite the physical play, I though we played excellent defense. It was our defensive play that won the game." With Cortez holding a precarious 52-51 lead with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter the Panthers forced several turnovers. Layne Frazier converted one of those to push the lead to 54-51. Following another FHS turnover and then a foul, Marcus Mortensen sank both of those for a 56-51 advantage with 1:02 left. Mike Rivas made a pair of free throws for one of Panthers’ biggest leads of the night at 58-51. Farmington’s Jeff Dalton got loose underneath for a layup and was fouled but he missed a free throw. However, Brendan Gaskins made a putback which pulled the Scorps within three at 58-55 with 32 seconds on the clock. Mortensen was fouled and missed the first but made the second to put Cortez up 59-55. Dalton responded with a finger roll and was fouled. He missed the charity shot. Cortez led 59-57. Mortensen, with 7 sconds left, was fouled and sank both to salt the game away. But with no time left Nick Saiz threw up a prayer and it was answered (it is Christmas time after all). It wasn’t enough as Cortez held on for the two-point win. Cortez led 42-38 going into the fourth period. The score was tied at 42-all when Farmington scored 4 points in a row. It was later tied at 49 and 52. In the first quarter, it took the Panthers some time in order to adjust to the physical nature of the game. Adam Grimes was getting loose underneath, scoring 7 of his 11 points before he eventually fouled out. They did not move the ball within the offense and soon were down 13-7 when coach Mortensen called time out with 1:40 to play. Farmington led 15-9 when the quarter horn sounded. Dalton made a fall-away which gave FHS its biggest lead of the night at 18-11. Mortensen trimmed the difference to 20-16 when he scored off an in-bounds pass and he came back when he scored again off a steal. Saiz made a steal and a lay up which put FHS up 23-18. Jake Red Fern also had a prayer shot answered when he connected right at the buzzer. The Scorpions led 25-20 at the half. About mid-way through the third quarter was where the Panther defense really started paying off. They created several turnovers and took Farmington right out of its game plan. Cortez trailed 32-30 with 3:07 to go. Mortensen canned a three-pointer which put Cortez ahead for the first time in the game at 34-33. But Dalton muscled in a shot moments later. Frazier made an old fashioned three-point play with 1:29 showing which gave Cortez a 38-36 lead. Then with 3 ticks left, Mortensen sank a three for the 42-38 score. Mortensen led the way with 24. Chris Garland tossed in 12, Kyle Wilson 8, and Frazier 6. Dalton led FHS with 17, Saiz scored 12, and Grimes 11. The MCHS boys will travel to Moab, Utah, to play Grand County at 7:30 p.m. today, Dec. 21, to end the 2000 part of the schedule. The MCHS girls, who have been idle since playing last weekend at the Lady Tiger Invitational in Aztec, N.M., will travel to take on a good Shiprock, N.M., team at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 22. Mancos High School boys got a little revenge by beating Ignacio in their first game of the annual Blue Jay Classic, which actually got under way Monday night in the Mancos Performance Center. The Blue Jays stopped Ignacio 54-47 to improve to 2-2 overall. "It was really physical but it was played evenly until late in the second quarter when our press really took effect. All of a sudden, we made ourselves a pretty good lead at the half," MHS head coach Gary Hill said. The score was close after one quarter with Mancos leading 10-9. But the Blue Jays outscored the Bobcats 22-9 in the second for a 32-18 at the intermission. "We came out in the second half and played sloppy and made some careless mistakes. Ignacio crawled back in at 45-41. But even with all our youth, we talked about it and they stepped up and decided that Ignacio was "not going to catch us’ and they didn’t. The kids really played well down the stretch," he added. Jesse Rousset got loose underneath and muscled in 23 points. Bill Baker ripped the cords for 12 and Kelley Smith chipped 8. Jude Valdez led Ignacio with 11. Turnovers, nearly 40 of them with most of those coming from mid-way through the third quarter, doomed the MHS girls in their first game of the tourney against a very good Kirtland-Central JV team, 69-48. "We were playing well until the third quarter," MHS head coach Kevin Dimmick remarked. "We were leading mid-way in the third. And then we started making turnovers and that did us in. They scored most of their baskets off our mistakes. We have a lot of young people handling the ball right now. Until they can settled down and play under pressure, we may struggle a bit." Mancos slipped to 2-3 overall. Mancos led 29-27 at the half. But the Jays were outscored 18-11 in the third and 24-8 in the fourth. Melonie Begay scored 26, most of those from lay ups off the press, for the Broncos. Kristin Dan chipped in 11 and Natasha Curtis 10. Kerri Morgan paced Mancos with 15 and Lacey Morris added 8. Play in the seventh annual Blue Jay Classic continues tonight but MHS does not play. The Jay girls host Durango JVs at 5:30 p.m. and Mancos boys take on MCHS JVs at 7:15 on Friday. Action continues all day on Saturday with Durango JV meeting K-C JV in girls action at 2 p.m., MCHS JV and Ignacio battle at 3:45, Mancos girls and Mancos boys tangle with Farmington High JVs at 5:30 and 7:15, respectively. The Dolores girls continue to be impressive under first-year head coach Rob Mellott. The Bears are now 5-0 and coming off a 55-48 win over Shiprock, N.M. JVs Monday night, Dec. 18. "We played pretty well, especially our team defense," Mellott reported. "We did let down some in the second half. Shiprock hit some threes and it got back into the game." Two big differences in the game was the fact that Dolores’ press forced 30 turnovers. The taller Bears also outrebounded the Chieftains by a 57-29 margin. The Bears held a 24-14 lead at the intermission. Dolores outscored Shiprock 14-10 in the third quarter but the Chiefs outpointed the Bears 24-17 in the fourth quarter. But by that time, Mellott had already pulled off the press and had cleared his bench. Jennifer Trevillian scored 22, and Ashley Reed added 14 for the Bears. The Bears visit Bayfield in a nonconference game beginning at 6 p.m. today. This is the final game of the 2000 portion of the schedule. They return to action Jan. 9 at Ignacio. The Dolores boys clobbered Shiprock JVs 73-56 to improve to 3-2 under second-year coach Todd Wynne. The basketball game was close for the first period. Dolores led 12-11. But that ended when the Bears stepped it up. They outscored the Chiefs 16-6 in the second and 22-16 in the third. The final quarter was close at 23-21. "The boys played great," Wynne reported. "This was a very disciplined Shiprock team we played. We moved the ball well against their zone and passed the ball through their press." The Bears got balanced scoring as Cullen Zion knocked down 18, while Justin Schmitt, Waylon Bennett, and Aeson Reed connected for 11 and Kevin Fane added 10. Bennett grabbed 8 rebounds and Reed 7 boards. Schmitt made 7 steals and dished out 9 assists. |
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