Gallup sweeps Miyamura: City rivals to meet in district tournament Wednesday

GALLUP

The Bengals came to play — simple as that.

The Gallup Bengals traveled about 15 minutes east to the home of in-town rivals, the Miyamura Patriots on Friday evening for its second meeting this season.

Gallup had already beaten the Patriots on Jan. 31. The hype for Friday’s District 1-4A regular season finale seemed to be anything but complacent as both teams warmed up before the start of the game in front of a sold-out crowd.

But it seemed to be all Bengals as soon as the ref blew his whistle and tossed the ball into the air.

Gallup’s Isaiah Tom’s two treys, Kristian Touchine’s three deuces, Isaac Toehe’s four points and two free throws, and Nathaniel Yazzie’s deuce all added up and quickly put them leading by 15 points before the first quarter time expired.

Miyamura, on the other hand, could only muster two points from Chris Chavez, combined with three free throws, giving them a total of five points.

The 20-5 first score seemed to have awakened the Patriots as they began to play the Bengals in the second quarter.

After being held scoreless in the opening quarter, Miyamura’s Britt Mitchell contributed five points. Blas Saucedo IV pitched in another five and the remaining 12 points came from Chavez, Lorenzo Diaz, Chandler Litso, and Keegan Hurtado.

That team effort helped cut Gallup’s lead down to 40-27 at halftime as it outscored the Bengals 22 to 20.

At the start of the third quarter, Gallup continued to frustrate Miyamura as it added another 20 points to its score, compared to Miyamura’s 12 points.

By the start of the fourth quarter, Miyamura’s Chavez and Hurtado fouled out of the game. The Patriots lost another player to fouls when Saucedo picked up his fifth.

By the end of the game, Gallup added 27 points to its final score. The Patriots added 16 points, making the final score 87-55 in favor of Gallup.

The 22-point win earned the Bengals the regular season district title with a 9-1 mark in district. With that Gallup earned the top seed for this week’s district tournament.

Bengals head coach Joshua Dunlap said in-town rivalry was contentious but was glad his team played their game to get the win.

”It’s always crazy, in-town rivalry,”  Dunlap said. “It’s hard to be a ref, it’s hard to be anything in this kind of a game. I thought we just finished well, and never stopped playing our style.”

Gallup and second seed Kirtland Central earned first round byes as the district tournament got underway on Monday night.

KC will host the Bloomfield on Wednesday as the Bobcats defeated Shiprock 64-53 on Monday.

Miyamura traveled to Aztec and narrowly defeated the Tigers, 52-39. The Patriot‘s victory earned them another dance with Gallup and they will play at GHS Wednesday night at 6 p.m.

Following Friday’s district contest, Miyamura assistant coach Brandon Wyaco congratulated the Gallup team. He said the Bengals have been playing solid basketball throughout the regular season.

“Credit (goes) to Gallup High” he said. “Man, they played great, they played an awesome game.

“To face them again would be good,” he added.

To get his team ready for the playoffs, Dunlap said he needs to keep his team from turning over the ball.

“We get a little turnover happy. I think if we just keep playing our discipline game we’ll be alright,” he said.

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