Chinle boys express desire to play in Copper bracket

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

FORT DEFIANCE – The Chinle boys basketball team has seen its stock rise in recent weeks.

The Wildcats (18-4) have won a dozen straight games and their success is not going unnoticed as Chinle was ranked No. 6 in Tuesday’s 3A Conference statewide power rankings that was released by the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

“The boys are committing right now, and they’re playing hard for one another,” Chinle coach CJ Woods said on Tuesday night. “I think that mindset is carrying over. You know, when they’re all working together, they all are wanting to get better and that matters.”

The win streak started in mid-December after the Wildcats fell to the Tohatchi Cougars in a home game. In that interstate contest, Chinle squandered a double-digit lead in the fourth stanza, only to come up short 49-43.

“That was horrible loss,” Chinle senior Jaiden Lee said. “We were up by 10 points going into that fourth quarter and we had our heads held up high. We let them back in and after that loss, we just snapped. We decided that we were not going to lose like that anymore.

“We found who we are and the identity of our team,” he continued. “Ever since that loss, we’ve been rolling high.”

Chinle senior post Aiden Kinlichee added that the team has grown considerably since that six-point loss.

“We’re more disciplined, and we just have a lot of trust for one another,” Kinlichee said. “We’re a family and we call on each other. That is what’s carrying us through this (winning streak). We’re working hard in practice and we’re just staying disciplined. We’re listening to our coaches and we’re following their philosophy.”

With its high rankings, the Wildcats are rated No. 11 in the Copper rankings as the AIA introduced that new division last season. Next month, the top 16 teams from the 1A, 2A and 3A Conferences will be placed in the Copper bracket as those elite teams will vie for a state crown. With four games left in the regular season, Chinle is almost a shoo-in to play in the Copper division. Should Chinle lose in the first or second round of the Copper bracket, the Wildcats will be added to the 3A Conference bracket.

“Our mindset is we’ll play anybody in any gym,” Woods said. “That’s our mindset and honestly, we really want to take on the top teams right away. It’s not about trying to lose (in the Copper) and go to the 3A (bracket). We want to go play in the Copper and we want to go win the Copper. We just want to play anybody, in any gym. We want to show up and be who we are.”

Kinlichee says it doesn’t matter what bracket they are placed in.

“We know that we can compete and play with anyone, so it doesn’t matter who we match up against,” he said. “We’re obviously going to play, and we obviously want to make a deep run to whatever bracket we play in.”

Lee says the team’s depth is one of the contributing factors in why they can make a deep run in the playoffs.

“This team is more than just our starting five,” Lee said. “We have talent on this team. Anyone can score one-on-one, and we can share the ball very well.”

The Chinle team has 12 players on its varsity squad and that depth extends to the JV and freshman teams.

“The truth is we can go into our JV team and probably go about 10 more, so we’re pretty deep,” Woods said. “Honestly, there’s like four or five kids on the freshman team that we probably could go to if we had to.

“It’s a fun thing to see, to have that much talent going through our program right night,” he added. “We have 12 guys right now, and our 12 guys can play. There’s not been one guy that hasn’t stepped up and had their moment.”

In addition to being deep, Woods says his club is “multi-versatile.”

“We can play fast, and we can play slow,” he said. “We can change the way we need to play based on who we play. That makes it exciting to be that deep.”

Chinle will close out the regular season by hosting Monument Valley on Friday, followed by an away game at Page on Jan. 27 and a home game with Ganado on Jan. 30. The Wildcats will end the regular season with Payson on Feb. 2. In Tuesday’s power rankings, Payson was ranked No. 10.

“That will be a really good challenge,” Kinlichee said of the Payson game.

By virtue of winning last year’s regional tournament, the Wildcats will host this year’s 3A North tournament. The first round of the tournament will start on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

“Out of our four years, the 3A North regional tournament has been elsewhere and now that we’re senior year it’s very exciting to have it there,” Lee said. “Hopefully, we can win the tournament.”

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