Down to the wire: Crownpoint boys edge Navajo Prep for district crown

SHIPROCK

The Crownpoint and Navajo Prep boys’ basketball teams played the District 1-3A championship game down to the script, similar to its previous two meetings.

In this methodical contest, the second-seeded Crownpoint team scored the game’s final three points to post a 32-30 win over No. 1 Navajo Prep before a large crowd at Shiprock High School on Friday night.

“This is something we’ll remember because this is our last year,” Crownpoint senior guard LaDainian Willie said of winning the district tournament.

“This is what we all wanted and like coach said we played the last five minutes of the game for all our seniors,” he said.

As one of Crownpoint’s best defender, Willie came with a huge defensive board that sealed the win for the designated visiting team.

While leading 31-30, Willie corralled a miss by Navajo Prep’s Dontrelle Denetso, and in the process he was fouled with 1.4 seconds left.

The Crownpoint guard connected on the first one and he purposely missed the second to run out the clock, giving no chance for a Navajo Prep comeback.

“It’s always a back and forth game when we play Navajo Prep,” second-year Crownpoint coach Thale Goodluck said. “They got talent, just as much as we have, and like I told the boys tonight it’s going to come down to who wants it more.”

Navajo Prep coach Matt Melvin said the difference came down to Crownpoint creating more opportunities for higher percentage shots.

“When you get to this point in the season, baskets are hard to find,” he said. “And at the end of the night, Crownpoint just found more easy ones than we did.

“They did a good job of making us work for our shots,” he added. “We didn’t make a lot of those, and we gave them a few easy ones and they made those at the end.

“When you’re gonna to score 30, a few easy ones is going to win you the game,” Melvin said. “I think that is what it came down to.”

Crownpoint

In the games’ waning moments, Navajo Prep had two looks at the basket – a 3-pointer and Denetso’s putback – but those two shots missed its mark.

“I don’t have a problem with the shot, but we didn’t need the 3,” Melvin said. “I thought guy who passed to him could have attacked and taken in. That is what I would have liked to seen but I don’t have a problem with the shot.

“It was an open look,” he said. “None of them fell and the bucket had a lid on it, and we just couldn’t break it.”

In this worthy championship game, Crownpoint used an 11-0 run to take 25-20 advantage with 3:20 left in the fourth.

The nearly eight-minute run was started by Crownpoint guard Taye Harvey as he hit a 2-point jumper in the middle of the third.

In the fourth, the junior guard nailed a trey, and he later added a free throw to cap the run before Navajo Prep got a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Jude Thomas.

On Crownpoint’s next possession, Harvey put the visiting Eagles ahead 27-23 with 2:06 left.

“The first half we kind of started out on a slump so coach talked to us at halftime,” said Harvey, who finished with eight points.

“Everything started clicking after that,” he said. “And in the second half we came out with more energy.”

Harvey shared top scoring honors with teammate Kordell McMillian while Tylon Tsosie and Tyrell Archie added seven each.

For Navajo Prep, freshman Xavier Nez and Denetso both had eight while Thomas chipped in seven.

Both teams will await the release of the 3A bracket, which is scheduled to be announced on Sunday by the New Mexico Activities Association.

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