Ganado boys survive scare from Many Farms

BURNSIDE, Ariz. – With two of its starting five players benched at the opening tip-off for disciplinary reasons, the Ganado boys basketball team sweated out its victory against Many Farms up until the final horn sounded.

Hornets coach Tom Toadecheenie disciplined some of his players so he employed a different starting lineup against the Many Farms Lobos, a 2A school. Toadecheenie declined to clarify what the disciplinary infractions were.

The lineup change affected the team’s chemistry as Ganado (2-1 overall) was not in control until the last few minutes of Tuesday night’s 66-57 win.

“Many Farms threw us a curve,” Toadecheenie said. “They surprised us. They played their game, and we weren’t up to par with ours, so we had to regroup. The fire that we had the last two games barely came back in the fourth quarter.”

In that final stanza, the Ganado coach inserted his usual starters, although he was missing senior Jacob Yazzie, his starting point guard.

“They kind of struggled when I mixed up the lineup at the beginning,” Toadecheenie said, “but little by little we started to progress, and we turned the game around.”

The Hornets did so by ratcheting up their defensive pressure, turning turnovers into points. Ganado took the lead for good at the 6:03 mark in the fourth quarter when senior post Grant Paddock scored inside for a 46-45 advantage.

Paddock’s short-range jumper triggered an 11-0 scoring run as the Hornets stretched their lead to 57-45 on a putback by the 6’3” Paddock with 3:25 to go.

“I really depend on my players to play defense,” Toadecheenie said. “When we play defense, my team can get things going.”

The Lobos (1-2) made one final push as they eased within six points, 58-52, on a basket by senior Logan Begay with just over two minutes left.

“They have a lot of reserves,” Many Farms coach Johnathan Charley said of the Hornets. “We only had eight players, so they had a fresh five coming in every time. You know, it’s kind of hard to compete when you can only substitute three, so they had that advantage.”

The Many Farms coach also pointed out Ganado’s imposing height advantage as the Hornets snarled several offensive boards that led to 17 second-chance points for the home team.

“We’re probably one of the smallest teams, but like I stated they had their reserves,” Charley said. “They had fresh faces coming in all charged up and we were still using our same players.

“But we did give (Ganado) a game,” he added. “We were right up there with them and then we started to break down in the last three minutes of the game.”

Ten of Ganado’s 13 players scored, headed by the 20- point effort from Paddock as he hit 10 field goals, including seven in the second half.

Senior guard Wyatt James pitched in 10 while senior Ethan Billy added eight for the Hornets.

For Many Farms, the Lobos were led by Leighton Team and Kaleb Harvey as both players put in 15 points each. Logan Begay had nine and Keion Tsabetsaye scored eight.

“Even though we lost, it wasn’t a blowout game,” Charley said. “The spectators probably thought this was going to be a blowout, but we surprised them. I think we gave a message to the fans and the (Ganado) coaches that this is a team that you can’t overlook.”

The Lobos surprised the Hornets by making nine three-pointers, including four in the opening half. The undersized 2A squad only trailed by one, 24-23, at the break.

Buoyed by two treys from Keion Tsabatsaye, Many Farms took a 33-29 lead midway through the third quarter. The Lobos stretched that to 36-31 following a three-pointer from Team.

“This is only our third game, but this is the best game we’ve played,” the Many Farms coach said. “The main thing we’re getting ready for is the 2A teams down the road.”

When asked if his team can build on this, Charley said it’s up to his players.

“All I can do is coach them and tell them what to do, but they’re the ones on the court playing the game,” he said. “But they realized that they could compete with a 3A school.”

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