Chinle teams come up short in tourney finals

CHINLE – The Whitehorse girls and the Virgin Valley (Nevada) boys slipped past the host team on Saturday night to claim this year’s team titles at the Southwest Food Excellence Winter Classic at the Wildcat Den.

Whitehorse erased a fourth quarter, four-point deficit in the last six minutes of the game to post a 43-39 win over the Chinle Lady Wildcats.

“Our girls stepped up and overcame all the adversity that came their way,” Whitehorse coach Joni Dickson said. “They played as a team, and we won as a team so we’re going to bask in this win and enjoy it.”

Earlier in the five-day tournament, Chinle defeated Whitehorse 45-39 in a round robin format.

In the boys contest, Valley Vista withstood a furious Chinle rally and escaped with a 54-53 win as the Wildcats outscored the Mesquite, Nevada team 18 to 7 in the last quarter.

“We were fortunate enough to start the fourth quarter with the lead,” Valley Virgin coach Ty Wakefield said. “Had the game been another minute or two we probably would have lost.”

The Chinle boys trailed 45-35 at the end of the third quarter, but an old-fashion three-point play from senior Antwian Bahe (10 points) spurred the Wildcats.

His teammates – Troy King and Jostaiah Harvey – combined for 10 of the next 13 points as the Wildcats got within 52-48 following an inside bucket by Harvey, the tournament MVP, with 1:49 to go in the game.

Virgin Valley pushed its lead back to six (54-48), but at the other end Bahe was fouled while attempting a putback.

Following his two free throws the Wildcats got a key steal as Harvey (14 points) got to the line and made 1-of-2 of two free throws.

On Virgin Valley’s next possession, Chinle tied up the ball as the Wildcats regained possession with Bahe pulling the home team within one, 54-53, with 25 ticks left.

In a frenzy finish, the two squads came up with steals as Virgin Valley ran out the clock.

The visiting team was led by Elian Pinto as he finished with 19 points while Drew Dixon added 10.

“Chinle is a very good team here,” Wakefield said. “They play really hard and I’m excited to see what they do in the state tournament.”

The Nevada coach said playing in the tournament was an amazing experience.

“I’ve always had an interest in Native American culture,” he said. “My fourth-great grandmother was a Ute Indian from Utah and when I saw the Netflix series (Basketball or Nothing) I thought it would be so cool to go there some day.

“And when I saw the tournament listing online the coach told me to please come,” he added “The people here have been amazing. They have been super kind.”

Girls

In a nip-and-tuck affair, the Lady Raiders of Whitehorse played with poise the entire contest, something they lacked before coming to the Chinle tournament.

A few weeks ago, Whitehorse didn’t show that when they went 1-2 at the Shiprock Invitational.

“We needed this win; we needed the girls to perform in this game because it’s all mental,” Dickson said. “That was holding us back at the Shiprock tournament. I don’t know if we were scared (then), but the coaches knew of the talent we had. It’s just that the players needed to believe in that.”

Whitehorse received steady production from guards Shunbaah Begay and Heidi Clark as the two players combined for 27 points with Begay scoring 15.

Clark paced the Lady Raiders by scoring eight of her 12 points in the opening half as Whitehorse led 22-21 at the break.

In the second half, Begay took over and finished with 11 points, which included a pair of and-ones.

Chinle got a game-best from tournament MVP Qoah Yazzie who finished with 15 points. Teammate Jayden Lynch added eight.

“My girls didn’t show up,” Chinle coach Francine McCurtain said. “Congratulations to Whitehorse for coming out ready to play against us.

“We played a little scared today, and I’m not sure why,” she added. “I’m trying to get to the bottom of that. It’s a tough one to swallow because they should have performed a little better.”

Chinle was whistled for 24 fouls, which was 10 more than Whitehorse as the Lady Raiders made 13-of-22 free throws.

The Lady Wildcats, meanwhile, was 10-of-18 at the charity line.

“It is what it is,” McCurtain said of the foul count. “We still wanted to play tough, so we had to get around that with moving our feet.”

Rock Point boys

The shorthanded Rock Point boys got a monster game from sophomore Ryer James. The formidable forward scored a game-best 28 points inside the paint as Rock Point won the third-place match, 64-34, over region rival Basis Flagstaff.

And when James was not scoring, Rock Point looked to Pierre Platta as the junior nailed seven treys for 21 points while junior Jerridin Bahe added 12.

Rock Point was down to only five players for Saturday’s game as starting guard Aldrick Carroll was involved in a car accident the night before.

“I’m proud of how the kids played,” Rock Point coach Colin Begay said. “It was an emotional win for us because one of our players got into an accident.

“It was a tough decision for us to play or not,” he added. “We talked about it all morning, and it was tough for me because I care so much for my players. I’ve known them since they were little kids.”

The Rock Point coach was glad that they decided to play despite having heavy hearts.

“You know, basketball is like healing for us,” he said. “It was very emotional, but the boys showed a lot of heart, and we dedicated this game to Aldrick.”

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