Alamo Navajo boys earn consolation championship at Striking Eagle tourney

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Last season, the Alamo Navajo boys basketball team captured the Bear Bracket at the annual Striking Eagle Native American Tournament.

The Cougars were placed in the Eagle Bracket this year, and they claimed the consolation championship on Saturday with a 68-46 win over Crownpoint at Miyamura High School.

Alamo Navajo dropped a 52-49 decision to Mescalero Apache in the opening round of the eight-team tournament that started on Monday, Dec. 22.

“Winning the consolation bracket was nice, but we struggled in that first game against Mescalero,” Alamo Navajo coach Lemuel Guerro said. “A majority of my team was sick, which caused us to be outhustled, but we’re happy with the consolation title.

“We always enjoy playing in the SENAI tournament, watching and competing against other Native American teams,” he added.

Against Mescalero, senior Scotty Guerro (Lemuel’s first cousin) led the Cougars with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting while junior Tilial Secatero added 10.

“It was a dogfight,” Lemuel Guerro said of last Monday’s matchup. “In the fourth quarter we missed a bunch of free throws. Throughout the game we missed free throws.”

Following that three-point loss to Mescalero, the Cougars bounced back with a 68-14 over Arizona’s Greyhills Academy. Senior Andy Pino led Alamo Navajo with 14 points while Scotty Guerro added 11.

Against Crownpoint, Scotty Guerro led all scorers with 22 points. Senior Zephaniah Guerro (Lemuel’s son) added 11 and Secatero chipped in 10.

“I like to acknowledge my seniors and that’s Scotty Guerro, Andy Pino and Zephaniah Guerro,” Lemuel Guerro said. “All three of them are a big part of my team.”

Alamo Navajo, which enters the new year at 6-3 overall, will have 12-day layoff before they resume play on Jan. 8 when they travel to Quemado for a nondistrict game. The Cougars will then finish out the regular season playing its District 3-1A opponents starting with a home game with Vaughn on Jan. 20 followed by an away game at Mountaineer on Jan. 23, a home game with Hondo Valley on Jan. 27, at Carrizozo on Feb. 3 and at Hondo Valley on Feb. 13.

With the district season fast approaching, Guerro is hoping that his team will continue to bond together and improve on their defense.

“We still need to come together to be a stronger team,” he said. “We got to start working together, especially on defense.”

The Alamo Navajo coach is expecting his team to make the playoffs again as the Cougars will vie for another district title. Guerro is anticipating a strong challenge from the Mountaineer Mustangs who have posted a 5-3 mark heading into the new year.

“They’re always up there and we usually go back and forth with them,” Guerro said of the Mustangs. “Hopefully, we can pull it off because they lost one senior from last year, so they pretty much have everyone back.”

The SENAI tournament was Alamo Navajo’s second tournament this season as the Cougars took third during the Mescalero Apache tournament on Dec. 11-13.

The Cougars defeated Capitan 64-53 in the opening round before they came up short to the blended team of Fort Sumner/House in the semifinals by a 67-47 count. In the third-place game, Alamo Navajo outlasted Pine Hill, 53-48.

“Fort Sumner is a really good team,” Guerro said. “They have a solid program and I have a lot of respect for them. They’re always up there and they’re always state contenders.”

With state aspirations, Guerro is hoping that his team will land at least a No. 8 seed for the Class 1A state tournament, which will be played in March.

“We want to be somewhere near the middle, you know, No. 6, 7 or 8,” Guerro said. “I don’t want to play the No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the first round.”

Last year, Alamo Navajo earned the No. 11 seed, and they were ousted in the first round by No. 6 seed Cimarron in an 80-62 decision.

“We went to state, but we didn’t get by the first round,” Guerro said.

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