Chinle beats Tuba City at buzzer

CHINLE

It took all 32 minutes, but the Chinle Wildcats found a way to get the best of their archrivals from Tuba City on Wednesday night at the Wildcat Den in Chinle.

Trailing 46-45 with seven seconds coming out of a timeout, Chinle’s Chritristen Blacksheep drove the lane and dished the ball to teammate Anthaniel Long, who hit the game-winning layup as time expired to give the Wildcats a 47-46 triumph over Tuba City.

The victory earned them the right to play in Saturday’s sectional championship against top-seeded Window Rock as the Scouts beat Pinon 65-61 in another thriller. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Wildcat Den in Chinle on Saturday night.

“I told the kids to drive it and attack it,” Chinle coach Brandon Tso said in his final timeout.
Tso said the final play was made to have Blacksheep either hit the jumper or give it up to the backside cutter.

“Either way it worked out,” Tso said.

With that said, Long said he was surprised that Blacksheep opted to give him the chance to hit the game winner, though it did come with some tense moments as the layup hung on the rim before falling through.

“ Chritristen gave it to me and that gave me a sign that he trusted me so I elevated and I took the shot and it rattled in,” Long said.

It was a tough loss for Tuba City, which gave Chinle all it could handle.

Fueled by their fans, the Warriors came back from a 26-16 deficit at the start of the second half to seize a 33-32 lead heading into the fourth.

The lead switched hands four times before Tuba City took a 46-45 lead on two free throws by senior guard Christian Begody with 43 seconds left in the game. The Wildcats, who struggled to contain Begody in the fourth as he scored 13 of his 22 points, immediately attacked the basket on their end of the floor.

The ball, however, was tied up as Tuba City regained possession.

The Warriors tried to milk the clock out but they gave it right back with a backcourt violation with 15 seconds left to set up Chinle final play of the night.

“It was a tough loss for our team and our players,” Tuba City coach Ryan Brown said. “We fought back to get back into it and we put ourselves in a good position to win the game, but again we made some crucial errors and mistakes there at the end. It was a just a tough loss.”

Brown said Begody found his groove in the fourth quarter where he was attacking the basket and being more of a leader but on the game’s deciding play the ball just bounced the other way.

“That’s a tough thing to get over,” Brown said.

Blacksheep led Chinle with 17 points while Jimiacan Ranger finished with 13.

In the late game, Sylvester Begaye scored 14 and Jacob Emerson added 10 to lead the Scouts past Pinon, despite almost blowing a seven-point lead with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Window Rock coach Raul Mendoza said his team got into trouble as his team tried to play an up-tempo game with Pinon.

“Instead of running our offense and taking care of the ball we played their game,” Mendoza said. “Pinon is a good team and they shoot the ball well but we got caught up in their up-and-down game and it almost cost us.”

Mendoza said his team did not defend Pinon well as the Eagles got six treys to drop.

Senior post Justin Begay led all scorers with 19 points while sophomore Bryon Bert added 18 for Pinon.

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