Chinle boys use depth to dispatch Ganado

BURNSIDE, Ariz. – Despite being down two starters, the depth of the Chinle boys basketball team proved to be too much for the Ganado Hornets.

Twelve of the Wildcats’ 15 players—80% of the team—scored in Saturday night’s game as Chinle pulled away with a 71-39 win.

“Our practices are very competitive, so anyone can come in and give us good minutes,” said first-year Wildcat coach CJ Woods. “If you look at the second quarter, we pulled our starters out and the five that we put in made a pretty big jump and they gave us a nice cushion.”

Early on it was senior Davian John who had the hot hand for Chinle, as he scored eight of his dozen points in the first four minutes of the opening quarter.

His second trey gave Chinle an 8-2 cushion before the Woods-coached team settled for a 13-6 advantage at the end of quarter.

“Davian John is one of those kids that has grown every part of his game this season,” Woods said. “We’re very proud of Davian because we see his consistency and leadership develop on this team.”

In the second stanza, Ganado pulled as close as 13-10 behind two consecutive baskets from senior guard Jacob Yazzie at the 7:14 mark.

Nonetheless, Chinle found another gear with its reserves. The non-starters willed the Wildcats to a 32-16 halftime cushion with six points coming from junior Kalem Denetsosie.

After Chinle and Ganado traded buckets to start the second half, Chinle senior Jostaiah Harvey found his range in the middle of the third quarter. He scored eight straight, including two treys, for a 50-28 cushion with 1:58 left.

He later capped the quarter on a personal 5-0 run as the Wildcats extended their lead to 57-30 heading into the fourth.

Harvey added another five in the fourth quarter as he led all scorers with 20 points on four treys. John added 12 points with two threes while Tristan Xicohtencatl chipped in eight.

“The biggest thing for us is we want to get up and down the court and run,” Woods said. “I think there were times early on that we weren’t seeing one another and we weren’t working together.

“We made the adjustments,” he added. “We were able to spread the floor and we made that one extra pass to get guys open.”

With those extra passes, Chinle connected on nine treys to the Hornets’ one.

“I have to give props to Chinle,” Ganado coach Tom Toadecheenie said. “They got ahead with the threes they were making. My boys are in good shape, but they weren’t committed to closing out their shooters.”

The Ganado coach was pleased with the start they had, but as the match proceeded into the second quarter the game got away from them.

“We had a phenomenal start,” he said. “Our strategic plays were there, and I think we kind of got them (Chinle) frustrated. We wanted to continue that in the second half, but they started to make their shots.”

And while Chinle had a dozen players score, the Hornets had five players that manufactured points. Yazzie led that quintet with 16 points. Seniors Wyatt James, Ethan Billy and Oraias Begay added six apiece.

With a few games left in the regular season, the Ganado team is looking to build some momentum as the Hornets defeated Tuba City on Tuesday night, improving their record to 3-10 and 1-6 in 3A North play.

The Toadecheenie-coached team needs to make the region title game to qualify for the 3A state playoffs. The region tournament is scheduled for Feb. 8-10 with the Window Rock Fighting Scouts hosting it.

“We have a tough hill to climb,” the Ganado coach said. “The boys are aware of it, and (this loss) has motivated them to get going.”

Chinle, meanwhile, is a lock to make the playoffs. The Wildcats (11-3, 8-1 in region play) were ranked No. 7 in Tuesday’s Arizona Interscholastic Association state-wide polls, as the top eight teams will earn first-round byes in the 24-team bracket.

“We want to be in that top eight,” Woods said. “We have to win out for that to happen. We also want to support the teams from the north, too. We want to get everyone there.”

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