Limping Pinon defeats Valley, hoping for a state playoff berth

PINON, Ariz.

The latter part of December appeared to be a rough time for the Pinon boys’ basketball team.

After starting the 2017-18 season with a 5-3 record, which included an appearance in the championship game at the Round Valley Shootout, the Eagles were saddled with some key injuries.

“The injury bug caught us in early December,” Pinon coach Thurman Tacheene said. “We just hadn’t had a full five for the last month so we’ve struggled to close out some of our games.”

Pinon lost the service of Jarrett Barton to an ankle injury when he landed awkwardly in a Dec. 12 game with Alchesay that sidelined him for four weeks.

In the midst of his injury, Enrique Segay hurt his non-shooting arm. The Pinon senior fell on his wrist when he was undercut while going up for a layup.

Before those injuries, Tacheene said they felt like they were going to have a great season.

“We have an incredible first five and we were on a high note,” he said. “We played Tuba here at home and we lost a close game. We played Hopi here and we won. We got some good quality wins at the Round Valley tournament so we were going in the right direction.”

But the severity of those injuries took a toll on Tacheene’s team as they went 4-7 with Barton not in the lineup. Some of those losses included some 2A North games as Pinon dropped to 1-4 in conference play heading into last Friday’s game against Valley.

“The kids were real frustrated and all I could do is encourage them,” Tacheene said. “I had to remind them that the season is not over yet. We still have a lot games ahead of us.”

Needless to say, there was a sense of urgency to turn things around. In one of their best outings since the start of the new year, the Eagles pull away from previously No. 7-ranked Valley in a much needed 80-66 win last Friday.

“Valley is a good team and this was a confidence builder,” Enrique Segay said. “We all wanted this win so we just had to execute, communicate and play defense.”

---