District 1-1A playoff game: Pine Hill boys nail No. 1 seed, rally past To’hajiilee in OT

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

GRANTS, N.M. – With Selection Sunday a few days away, the Pine Hill boys basketball team secured its spot in the 16-team New Mexico Class 1A state bracket.

On Monday night, Pine Hill (15-10) defeated archrival To’hajiilee 58-49 in overtime at Grants High School, which earned Pine Hill the District 1-1A regular season title and a berth to the playoffs.

“We were right on the bubble at No. 15, and we were competing with other teams like Mountainair,” Pine Hill coach Lawrence Yazzie said. “We told the boys that if you want to go back to state this was our way in, so we had to play hard.

“The guys really worked hard, and they deserve this,” he added.

With the nine-point win, the Warriors will host the district tournament championship game at 6 p.m. on Friday night and will await the survivor of the Wednesday’s semifinal game.

On Monday, No. 3 seed Coronado (12-15) got past No. 4 Northwest (6-13) by a 43-30 count, and they will play the winner of Tuesday’s game between No. 5 Tsé Yi’ Gai (2-19) and No. 2 seed To’hajiilee (15-10).

To’hajiilee first-year coach Lyle Nelson says they have some work to do to reach Friday’s championship game as the Warriors had their six-game winning streak snapped.

“We’ll play Tsé Yi’ Gai (today) and if we win then we’ll get another game on Wednesday,” Nelson said. “I expect both teams to come out hard on us, so we have to be ready.”

With the selection committee taking only 16 teams, Nelson believes his team should receive an at-large bid to the state playoff should they not win the district tournament.

“I think our records stands for itself,” he said. “I mean, we played some good games over the course of the season, and I think we should be OK. But then again, I do want us to win this tournament to be at ease.

“The boys are gonna have to refocus on what we have to do (on Tuesday) and do what we have to do on Wednesday,” he added. “Hopefully, we’ll meet up with Pine Hill again and we’ll see what happens at the end of the week.”

Monday’s district playoff game did have its challenges as it was delayed for 45-plus minutes. The players didn’t get on the floor until 15 minutes after the start time. The game was delayed again in between the first and second stanza, this time for 31 minutes as there was a malfunction with the scoreboard. (An old-school scoreboard was used until they got the current scoreboard running again in the middle of the third.)

“It really didn’t affect our boys,” Yazzie said of the delays. “We kept telling them to be active, keep moving around and to keep focus on the game.”

Following the second delay, Pine Hill put together a 14-4 run with senior post Elias Davis scoring 10 of his 16 points as the home-designated team led 22-12 with 2:25 left before the half.

At the break, Pine Hill led 26-16.

“My guys showed up in that first half,” Yazzie said. “Man, they stayed in a zone and my captains Rondy (Henio), Elias and Chance (James) kept the boys together and they kept them going.”

After the break, though, the complexion of the game took a drastic turn as To’hajiilee scored 17 unanswered points to start the third. At the end of said quarter, To’hajiillee outscored Pine Hill 22-to-4, headed by the 1-2 punch of junior Omar Apachito and senior Khyran Guerro.

The two guards combined for 17 of those points with Apachito scoring 10 as To’hajiilee took a 38-30 cushion heading into the fourth.

During that third-quarter rally, Guerro picked up his fifth infraction as he fouled out with 42 seconds left in the third, finishing the contest with 11 points.

Following Guerro’s exit, To’hajiilee lost four more players to fouls, including two in the fourth as that opened the door for Pine Hill.

“We did have the momentum after halftime and we did have that huge run,” Nelson said. “The boys were hyped up, and we were in transition. Unfortunately, some calls didn’t go our way and that made a difference in the second half.”

With 5:39 left in regulation, the Nelson-coached team lost senior post Avery Manning to fouls. Apachito, who led all scorers with 21 points, followed next as he sat on the bench with 18.6 seconds as his fifth foul put Pine Hill junior Chance James at the free throw line.

James, who finished with a team-best 17 points, sank both free throws as Pine Hill took a 48-47 lead. At the other end, To’hajiilee freshman Khyler Guerro tied the contest by making 1-of-2 free throws with 16.3 seconds.

In the closing seconds, Pine Hill had three looks at the rim to no avail. But with To’hajiilee without three starters, Pine Hill gained control in the overtime session by scoring the first nine points.

“A couple of our boys got really upset and the hardest part for us coaches was keeping their composure, and keeping them in the game,” Yazzie said. “But once they started to believe in themselves, we got going.”

Yazzie said they made enough free throws to extend the game as both teams were whistled for a combined 55 fouls, of which 29 were called on To’hajiilee. With that, Pine Hill connected on 17-of-35 free throws while To’hajiilee made 7-of-29.

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