Panther boys to compete at NGS Tournament in Page, Az.

Panther boys to compete at NGS Tournament in Page, Az.

December 13, 2001

By Jim Thomas
Journal Sports Editor

The third-ranked Montezuma-Cortez High School boys varsity basketball team (4-0) will compete beginning today, Dec. 13, at the annual Navajo Generating Station Basketball Tournament in Page, Ariz.

The Panthers will take on Monument Valley High School (Kayenta, Ariz.) in the first game with a scheduled tip-off of 8:15 p.m.

"This always is a real good tournament," MCHS head boys coach Wade Mortensen commented. "It will be the best tournament we play all year except for the (Class 4A) State Tournament. A lot of good teams play in this tournament. It will take a big effort to win it (Cortez never has won this tournament)."

On the other side of the bracket is McClintock, a 2001 state champion in Arizona. McClintock will take on Dixie High School of St. George, Utah. Tip-off for that game will be at 7 p.m. Competing in the opposite bracket are host Page, Ariz., with its 6-foot-10 kid who signed with Stanford recently, going against Tuba City, Ariz. at 5:30. South Mountain (Phoenix) takes on Durango to open the day’s action at 3:30.

Action resumes on Friday, Dec. 14, with action starting at 3 p.m. The Panthers, if they win, will play the winner of McClintock-Dixie at 8:15. If they lose, they will play at 4:15. The seventh place game will start at noon Saturday, Dec. 15. The fifth place game will be held at 3:30. The third-place game is set for 5:30 and the championship game for 8:15.

"We are in a tough bracket. McClintock, Monument Valley and Dixie all have good teams. Page has very good team and South Mountain is tough. Tuba City had a good team last year but graduated most everybody. What ever classification McClintock is in, they are defending state champs. We will see some very good high school basketball players this weekend," Mortensen said.

The Panthers are coming off a 53-47 win against Grand County (Moab, Utah) last Thursday, Dec. 6. It was slow going at first for Cortez as it struggled shooting from the floor.

"We didn’t shoot well from the perimeter (20 percent)," Mortensen recalled. "We shot 39 percent from the field. We have some kids who can really shoot the three but they are not hitting them right now. We aren’t kicking the ball inside which has me concerned."

Mortensen it was the team’s defense that won the game.

"We played very good defense, especially in the second half. Anytime you hold a team to 47 points you should win the game," he added.

Grand County led the Panthers for three quarters.

"We finally got ahead in that final quarter and won. We rebounded well which helped. It was a real battle," Mortensen remarked.

The Panthers played their fourth game in seven days. But Mortensen felt the kids still looked good because he was able to shuffle in a lot of players which kept them fresh.

Kirk Archibeque led the team in scoring with 12. Marcus Mortensen, Mike Rivas and Kyle Wilson each chipped in 9. Devin Dalton led Grand County with 12 and Matt Guymon added 10.

The Panther girls will be busy competing this Friday and Saturday in the Tiger Invitational at Aztec, N.M. Cortez will tangle with a good Navajo Prep (Farmington) team (Class 2A in New Mexico) at 6 p.m. Friday. In the first round while host Aztec will meet Ignacio at 8. The consolation game is slated for 6 p.m. and the championship game at 8 on Saturday in Lillywhite Gym.

All eyes turn to Mancos beginning Monday, Dec. 17, as the week-long annual Blue Jay Classic gets under way. Mancos boys and girls will play on Tuesday (Dec. 18), Friday (Dec. 21) and Saturday (Dec. 22) in the Mancos Performance Center. The Blue Jay girls will host Durango JVs Tuesday and play MCHS JVs Friday and Farmington High JVs Saturday. The Jay boys will play Ignacio Tuesday, Cortez JVs Friday and FHS JVs Saturday.