Chinle, Page reach 3A North tourney finale

FORT DEFIANCE

The finals are set for the 3A North Regional Boys Basketball Tournament.

The top two seeds earned double-digit wins on Friday night in the semifinals of the regional tournament at the Bee Hółdzil Fighting Scouts Events Center in Fort Defiance.

Top-seeded Page (16-2) and No. 2 Chinle (12-7) will play in the title game on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Chinle earned its ticket with a 66-53 win over No. 3 seed Tuba City (9-8) in the first semifinal game. Chinle had nine players reach the scoring column headed by the 15-point effort turned in by junior Ranen Parker.

Junior Jaiden Lee added 14 while senior forward Kalem Denetsosie scored 12. Sophomore Kollin Laughing chipped in nine.

After trailing 14-13 at the end of the opening quarter, Chinle took the lead for good with Parker nailing three consecutive treys for a 22-16 cushion with 6:39 to go before the half.

“Instead of me playing the point guard and handling the ball, my coach CJ Woods, wanted me to be a scorer,” Parker said. “I was really feeling it because I didn’t want Tuba to stick around because we know how streaky they can get.

“I just had all the confidence in my shot, and they went in,” he added.

Those 3s by Parker, set in motion a new benchmark for the Chinle team as the Wildcats put up 25 points in the second quarter for a 38-28 halftime cushion.

Before Friday’s game, the Wildcats had scored 28 points in said quarter in 3A North competition through 12 games this past season.

“You know, that’s a crazy stat,” Woods said. “But, you know, that was a huge point of emphasis. We had a game plan; we made the adjustments, and we did it.

“I’m just so proud of the kids,” he added.

After the break, the Wildcats showed no signs of slowing down with Denetsosie and Lee picking up the slack in the third quarter. Denetsosie scored eight and Lee had five.

Defensively, the Wildcats held Tuba to only five points as the Woods-coached team jumped out to a 53-33 cushion heading into the fourth.

For Tuba City, senior Tyler Tsinnie finished with a team-best 15 points while senior guard Deiondre Whiterock and sophomore guard Marai Bilagody chipped in 14 and 12, respectively.

Tsinnie scored 12 of his points in the opening half, but he picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter as he was sent to the bench with 4:23 left in the third.

The athletic Tuba guard returned to the lineup at the start of the fourth as the Warriors were looking to inch back into the contest. During a 10-2 run, Tsinnie nailed three consecutive free throws as Tuba got within 55-43 with 3:15 left following a 3-point shot from Whiterock.

That was as close as the Warriors would get as Tsinnie fouled out with just under three minutes to play.

Page

In the top half of the bracket, Page overwhelmed No. 5 seed Window Rock (4-14) by a 66-33 count to reach the finals.

“I don’t think we’ve peaked quite yet, but they’re hungry,” Page coach Justin Smith said of his team. “We’re playing solid defense, but I still think we can still get better defensively.

“Offensively, I feel like we can take better shots if we’re a little bit more patient,” he added. “I mean, it’s hard to complain about a win like that in a hostile environment.”

Senior forward Tyree Stingley tallied a game-high 23 points for Page, which included four treys. Senior Jackson Smith and junior Joey Benally added 13 and 12 points, respectively.

For Window Rock, junior Jaylen Brown scored nine markers.

The Smith-coached team scored the first 10 points and never looked back. Behind Benally’s eight points and Stingley’s five, Page staked out a 20-6 first-quarter advantage.

Despite some resistance, Page outscored the Fighting Scouts 15 to 11 in the second quarter as the Sand Devils led 35-17 at the break.

In its best quarter, Page showed why they went undefeated in region play as the Sand Devils stretched that 17-point halftime cushion and led 66-33 heading into the fourth.

In that productive third quarter, Stingley and Jackson Smith combined for 23 points with Jackson Smith scoring 11.

“Our second half was key and so we had to go out there and put them away,” Jackson Smith said. “We have all kinds of scorers with Tyree, Joey, Talon (Herder), and Max (Reid).

“We’re all good scorers, but we always have to find opportunities to score,” he added. “Tonight was my opportunity to score and I capitalized on that.”

With the lopsided win, the Sand Devils have won 13 straight games as they are looking to win this year’s regional crown. Last season, Page was upset in the semifinal when it came up short to Monument Valley.

“We want to come out and prove something,” Jackson Smith said. “We have some unfinished business to deal with, so we had to come out and finish the business we didn’t do last year.”

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