sports

Tournament of Champions

Begody leads Tuba City past Chinle for championship title

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

CHINLE. Jan. 2, 2014

For those keeping count, the Tuba City boy's basketball team has enjoyed a lot of success away from home.

The Warriors have compiled an 11-2 record thus far, including 10 on the road. Six of those wins have come inside the confines of the Wildcat Den in Chinle.

On Saturday night, the short-handed Tuba City squad was in big trouble against the Wildcats near the end of the third quarter of the championship game of the 3A North Tournament of Champions.

Tuba City trailed, 53-43, with 1:56 left before the fourth quarter. But after a timeout, they responded with a 10-0 run to tie the game. Junior guard Christian Begody scored eight of those points as the Warriors used that momentum shift to secure a 64-60 win.

"As coaches we always stress to our kids to never give up. There is always a run in us and there is always a fight in us," said Tuba City coach Ryan Brown. "These kids believe that."

Begody lead the Warriors with 24 points with 17 coming in the last 9.5 minutes of the game. At one point the junior guard scored 12 straight points with his last bucket earning Tuba City a 60-55 cushion with just over five minutes left in the game.

"We made a few adjustments and we made a couple of stops to make that run but Christian was clutch tonight," Brown said. "He really stepped up for us and it was great to see that."

With two players missing, including their starting point guard, Begody said his team needed him to contribute as much as he could.

"I am one of the team captains so I had to step up," he said. "I have a bunch of good kids that work hard and this was a lot of fun."

To read more on how your team fared, pick up a Navajo Times.

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