MV earns ‘gut check’ win in finals

ALBUQUERQUE

Consider this as a gut check moment.

Those were the sentiments of Santa Fe Indian School head boys’ basketball coach Cicilee Moses after her team dropped a 72-63 decision to the Monument Valley Mustangs in the championship game of the Eagle bracket at the University of New Mexico’s Johnson Center.

“To be honest with you that other team was better,” said Moses, the mother of WNBA player Shoni Schimmel. “They had that Indian strength and determination and that is what I kept telling my boys welcome to Indian ball because when it comes down to it – it was a gut check – and they had it.

“We didn’t have it
and both teams were going back and forth,” she continued. “And both teams got tired but mentally they were stronger and they wanted it.”

The Braves, who were accompanied by Schimmel the entire tournament, gave Monument Valley fits with their speed and knack of shooting the long-range bomb.

SFIS made a total of 10 treys with senior guard Emmanuel Yepa nailing three of them in the second stanza. In that period, the Braves erased a 21-17 first quarter deficit and turned it into a 45-42 advantage at the break with Yepa scoring 13 of his 15 points.

The Mustangs countered that attack with junior guard Cauy Nelson bombing three from long range with his last coming in the waning moments of the second quarter that tied the contest momentarily at 42-all.

The Braves added a free throw and just as time was about to expire Eufracio Bearground tacked on a layup for a three-point halftime lead.

“We were lackadaisical here and there,” said Mustang coach Anderson Holiday when asked about SFIS’s turnaround. “At the half I told the guys we needed to build our intensity.”

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