MV boys secure playoff berth: Mustangs to play top-seed Chinle in 3A North finale

FORT DEFIANCE

Regardless of what happens in today’s regional finals, the Monument Valley boys basketball is headed to the 3A state playoffs.

The Mustangs secured their spot on Friday by holding off Page in the first of two semifinals of the 3A North Region tournament at the Bee Hółdzil Fighting Scouts Events Center in Fort Defiance.

In a slugfest MV emerged with a hard-fought 44-36 victory over the No. 2 seed Sand Devils.

The third-seeded Mustangs will play Chinle for the regional tournament crown at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

The top-seeded Wildcats pulled away from the Ganado Hornets in the second half of their game, winning the up-and-down contest by a 70-41 count. Like the Mustangs, the fourth seeded Hornets needed to reach the championship game to make the playoffs.

“It was a little scary not knowing if we would have made state,” MV senior guard Uzziel Flores said. “Honestly, I feel like we can play with anybody. Right now we’re playing our best basketball because during the season we kind of struggled a little bit.

“But I knew we would come around,” he added. “Lately, we’ve been (banding) together and we beat a tough Page team.”

In its semifinal game, MV hit four-of-six treys – two each by Flores and junior Ralph Gray – during a 14-5 run midway through the second quarter.

Flores launched the run with an NBA-range three and the Mustangs found Gray (nine points) wide open for another trey as MV took its first lead at 12-11 with 4:09 left until halftime.

The Sand Devils scored five straight before the Mustangs capped the quarter with Gray hitting a trey and Flores putting in five of his game-high 18 points.

Flores’ buzzer-beating trey earned MV a 20-16 halftime lead.

“They made some big threes for us,” MV coach Randolph Gilmore said. “I just told them to make good shots and be confident making them.”

Mustang forward Kerry Nash opened the second half with MV’s fifth trey. After that the contest turned into a defensive chess match with the Gilmore-coached team outscoring the Sand Devils 6 to 2 for the rest of the third stanza.

In that quarter Tyree Stingley scored Page’s lone basket as the Mustangs held the athletic forward to only 11 points. In Thursday’s quarterfinals Stingley put up 33 points in the Sand Devils win over Window Rock.

“Our goal was to limit Tyree’s points, and I think we did that,” Gilmore said.

Still, the MV coach had concerns with Page’s other threats as the Sand Devils also collected eight points each from Talon Herder and Max Reid.

“It wasn’t just Tyree, we focused on everybody because Page has some shooters,” Gilmore said. “We had to play defense and help each other out.”

Early in the fourth MV seized its largest lead at 34-21 when senior Jaden Redhouse connected on two free throws with 5:43 remaining.

But the Sand Devils refused to go away. Page completed a pair of old-fashioned threes during an 11-4 run as the Sand Devils pulled within 38-32 with 3:15 to go after senior Bryce Williams finished his and-one opportunity.

On the ensuing play, Stingley was whistled for his fifth foul and Page had to play without its star player. Nonetheless, the Sand Devils made one final push and closed within 40-36 after a steal from Reid with just under a minute left.

That was as close as Page would lingeras MV beat the Sand Devils for the first time this season.

Chinle

Getting out in transition translated into a productive first half for both the Ganado Hornets and Chinle Wildcats.

That formula seemed to favor the high-flying Wildcats as Chinle kept its motor running while it wore down Ganado in the second half.

Behind six early points from senior guard Wyatt James, the Hornets led 17-14 at the end of the opening quarter. At the half they trailed 36-28.

After the break, though, Chinle achieved separation as first-year Chinle coach CJ Woods kept fresh legs on the court by substituting players in and out.

“I’m very happy with our depth tonight,” Woods said. “I have to give Ganado a lot of credit. They came out with the right game plan; they came out the right way. They gave us a lot of problems but tonight our depth carried us.”

Fifteen Chinle players saw action with a dozen scoring, headed by senior forward Jostaiah Harvey, who finished with 21 points.

Ganado, meanwhile, suited up 10 players and for one half the Hornets’ offense flourished.

But maintaining that tempo became difficult as Ganado had a few open looks come up short in the second half due to tired legs.

James led Ganado with 14 points while senior forward Grant Paddock added eight.

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