3A North: Top-seed Chinle, No. 2 MV advances to title game

CHINLE

The two top seeds in the 3A North will meet in tonight’s boys’ championship game.

Chinle and Monument Valley split their series during the regular season, with both contests decided by eight points or less.

The Mustangs were the first to reach the title game as it came back from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to upended No. 3 seed Tuba City by a 53-43 count.

In the finale on Friday night, the Chinle Wildcats stymied No. 4 Window Rock in the opening quarter before holding onto a 68-63 win.

The championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Wildcat Den. The third-place match between Window Rock and Tuba City is slated for 11 a.m.

For almost eight minutes, Chinle played flawlessly on both ends of the court, giving the Scouts no chance at establishing any rhythm.

The Wildcats looked the part as the tournament’s top-seeded team by racing out to a 20-4 lead following a basket by junior Delayne Bahe with 2:56 to go in the opening quarter.

That margin was stretched to 25-6 on a 3-pointer from senior Kylen Yazzie with 1:32 remaining before the Scouts closed out the quarter on a 4-0 spurt.

“I was impressed the first quarter, but after that, I wasn’t,” Chinle coach Raul Mendoza said. “We allowed our emotions to get the best of us. Instead of playing like we should, we got too excited at times. We made some bad passes, and we took shots that we shouldn’t have taken.

“We didn’t recognize what we had,” he added. “We had the big lead, and we didn’t play according to what the situation was. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t play better after we had that lead.”

Trailing 35-21, the Scouts went on another run to close out the opening half as a 12-2 spurt cut Chinle’s lead down to 37-29 at the break, with seniors Caden Bia and Quaziar Martinez combining for 10 points.

The Scouts carried some of that momentum into the second half as it got as close as 45-41 on a 3-pointer from Owen Mitchell with 4:53 left in the third stanza.

The Wildcats pushed its lead to 57-49 following a pair of buckets from senior post Javis Woody, but the Scouts hit 4-of-5 free throws to get within 57-53 heading into the last quarter.

A putback by Martinez made it a one-possession game at the start of the fourth, but after that, points were hard to come by as Chinle outscored the Scouts 11 to 8 the rest of the way.

The Wildcats sealed the win by making 5-of-6 free throws.

“I think the good thing about tonight is we were able to make free throws down the stretch,” Mendoza said. “It’s something you got to do. Those free throws helped us get the win.”

The Wildcats had four players in double figures headed by the 13 points turned in by Bahe. Senior Tristan James added 12, while Yazzie and Woody added 10 each.

For the Scouts, Martinez and Bia both finished with 16.

Mendoza said his team has to play better to win the region title against a good MV team.

“They probably have the best three players in the conference overall,” the Chinle coach said. “We have to play better defensively and be more patient on offense. We have to be better at being in control because we had too many turnovers.”

The Mustangs needed a jolt on its stagnant play in the earlier game. And it responded in a big way by outscoring Tuba City 27 to 6 in the last nine minutes of the game.

“We’ve always talked about trying to stay confident,” first-year MV coach Randolph Gilmore said. “We still have to stay confident, and we still have to play defense. That is what we’ve been teaching them throughout the whole season.

“We have to play defense, regardless if our shots are going in or not going in,” he added. “As long as you play defense, we’re still in the game.”

During that surge, MV senior guard Andrew Sheppard put in 14 of his 19 points to lead all scorers. The Mustangs also got 15 points from junior Roberto Flores and 13 from junior Abrandon Byjoe.

Tuba City, meanwhile, was led by senior post Desean Butler, who finished with 15 points. Guard Tayden Arizona and Tyler Williams added 12 and 11, respectively.

“We lost our composure, and we didn’t take care of the basketball,” Tuba City coach Justin Smith said. “But the bottom line is we didn’t defend. Our guards did not defend.

“One of them did, but (MV) has three good guards, so I need three guards to defend,” he added. “That’s the truth.”