Area prep cage teams wrap up first half of season

Area prep cage teams wrap up first half of season

December 25, 2001

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

The final games of 2001 portion of the prep basketball season are over.

All is quiet on the court from now until Jan. 2, when practices can resume again. The Colorado High School Activities Association regulations state that no official practices (with coaches) can be held from Dec. 24 through Jan. 1.

Montezuma-Cortez High School boys basketball team will return to action Jan. 8 with a non-conference home game against Aztec (N.M.) High School. The Panther girls will get under way a few days earlier when they visit Farmington High on Jan. 5.

Class 2A Mancos High boys and girls will visit Class 3A Ignacio on Jan. 6. Ignacio boys are coming off winning the annual Blue Jay Classic. Dolores County boys and girls will start on Jan. 10 against MCHS JVs at Cortez Middle School Gym. Dolores High boys and girls will be the last teams to get started by hosting Bayfield on Jan. 11.

Ignacio High School boys defeated Class 4A Cortez JVs 76-61 Saturday afternoon, Dec. 22, in the Mancos Performance Center to win the tournament title.

Down at the half, Andre Mattox popped in 24 points in the second half to pace the Bobcats. Those points went along with his 11 he scored in the first half. Ben Neil added 12. Young Panther Ryan Mortensen led Cortez with 22.

IHS led at the half 34-31.

MHS defeated Cortez JVs in a thrilling game Friday night, Dec. 21, of the tourney. The Jays won 73-71.

Mancos outscored Cortez 19-7 in the second quarter to take a 38-26 at the break.

"We got them to make a lot of turnovers and we played pretty good defense," MHS head coach Gary Hill reported. "Ryan Shepherd went to the line a lot and made 8 of 10. Some of the others picked it up."

MCHS JVs came back strong in the third quarter to outscore Mancos 27-18. The teams played almost evenly in the fourth.

"We came out of the half like we have all season with no intensity. They (MCHS) played well in the third. It was nip and tuck all the way through the fourth quarter," Hill remarked.

Clint Hill, who tossed in 11 points, made a critical free throw to go up by one point. Mancos got the ball back and Kyle Yeomans made a free throw. Cortez tried but never could get a shot off.

Yeoman led the team with 20 and Shepherd added 10. MCHS’s Ryan Mortensen, who gunned in several threes in the third quarter, led all scorers with 31. Jeremy Veach and Tyler Billie each scored 13.

The Blue Jays wrapped up their portion of the round-robin format tournament on Saturday, losing 56-49 to Farmington High JVs.

Mancos held a slim 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Farmington outscored the Jays 23-11 in the second half to take a 33-22 lead at the break. Mancos came back well in the third, outpointing the Scorpions 17-13. The teams played evenly in the fourth, both scoring 10.

"It was a good ball game," Hill said. "The second quarter hurt us as we never could get things going. We did play a much better defensive game."

Drake McCullouch, who rattled home several treys in the second period, finished with a game-high 24 points. Nate Burns tossed in 11. For MHS, Hill scored 9, Kelley Smith 10, Travis Clark 10, and Shepherd 10.

Burns and McCullouch from Farmington made the All-Tournament. Hill also was chosen. Lamey Miller of Ignacio was chosen. Mattox was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

The Farmington JV girls won the girls’ portion of the tournament. Mancos came in second. No other information was available for games against Cortez and FHS JVs at press time.

MCHS varsity boys wrapped up the first half of the season on Friday night at home by hosting Farmington High. The Panthers defeated FHS 65-56.

The game was close throughout the first quarter. Farmington held a slim 11-10 lead at the end of the period. But Cortez’ defense came on strong. The good defensive play set up the offense. Cortez outscored the Scorps 24-5. Cortez led 34-16 at the half.

"We pressed them and they couldn’t break it," MCHS head boys coach Wade Mortensen reported. "They could not handle our matchup zone. The offense then really clicked. That quarter proved to be the difference in the game."

Farmington outscored Cortez 40-31 in the second half. Mortensen said the team played inconsistently in the second half but well enough to win.

Marcus Mortensen paced Cortez with 24. Teammates Layne Frazier and Kirk Archibeque each netted 10 while Kyle Chandler added 9. Nate Deswood and Adam Grimes each scored 14 for Farmington.

"We feel good right now," coach Mortensen added. "We’re playing pretty well right now. We’re getting balanced scoring which I like. We’re still a little inconsistent but that usually happens in the first half of the season."