Navajo Prep boys outlast Tohatchi in battle of attrition

TOHATCHI – With Tohatchi losing two key players to cramps in the fourth quarter, the Navajo Prep Eagles pounced Tuesday night.

Tohatchi went toe-to-toe with Navajo Prep for three entertaining quarters, but the Eagles found a way to grind them down, coming away with an 81-61 road win.

Prep raised the bar and topped the Cougars with a mind-blowing 31-11 run in that final stanza after both teams had battled to a 50-all score entering the fourth.

“Tohatchi whipped us for three quarters, and I thought they played a heck of a game,” Navajo Prep coach Matt Melvin said. “They were hungry, and they did a lot of good things. They hit some big shots and they just put up a fight all night.

“But in the fourth quarter we outscored them 31 to 11,” he added. “We take a lot of pride in the shape that we’re in.”

Still, the fifth-year coach had questions on whether his club could win the war of attrition.

“The first six district games we had were with a running clock,” Melvin said. “We haven’t played four quarters in a while but, man, I was so impressed with how we finished the game out. I mean, 31 to 11 says a lot.”

For a good part of the fourth quarter, Tohatchi lost the services of junior forward Valentino Dawes and senior post Talon Long to cramps that changed the complexion of the game.

“We played a hell of a game,” Tohatchi coach Kendall Livingston said. “But they took advantage once we lost our two bigs to cramps. I give them props and, you know, we just got gassed but I’m really proud of my team.

“They did very, very well tonight,” he added. “I can’t reiterate that enough because I think we kind of shocked them with the way we battled for three quarters.”

Before leaving the game, Long scored a team-best 20 points while Dawes added seven.

“We were working so hard tonight, but we just ran out of gas,” the Tohatchi coach said. “I actually used all of my timeouts to get them some rest, but I have to give it to Prep. They did what they needed to do to get the ‘W’ tonight.”

After a seesaw affair, the Eagles leaned on 6’2” junior Xavier Nez in that final stanza as the shooting guard put in 13 of his 21 points, which included three treys.

“My teammates needed me, so I knew that I had to step up,” Nez said. “They were the ones that gave me some open looks and I just knocked them down.”

The Navajo Prep coach praised Nez for raising his level of play.

“He knocked down some shots when it counted the most,” Melvin said. “We’ve talked about that a lot because I’m not looking for guys to be clutch when we’re up by 30 points. It’s like, ‘Can you make big shots in big games?’

“And I’ve been on Xavier a lot about having that type of performance,” he added. “If you can remember he didn’t score any points in last year’s Final Four when we lost to Robertson. I’m just glad he stepped up.”

Early in the contest senior Jude Thomas carried the load for the visiting Eagles as he finished with a game-best 27 points. He did, however, struggle at the charity line making 7-of-12 free throws.

“He does everything for us,” Melvin said. “So many of the things he does go under the radar. He might not get every basket, but the bulk of our offense comes from him.

“He’s either scoring or he comes up with a pass,” he added. “I think every shot that Xavier knocked down tonight came from Jude.”

The Eagles also received 11 points from JaKobie Thomas.

For Tohatchi, Long scored 20 and junior guard Josh Dawes chipped in 15 as the Cougars utilized a motion-type offense to stay within striking distance.

The 20-point loss was a fry cry from Tohatchi’s first meeting with Prep, as the Eagles won that game rather easily, 99-49.

“In our first meeting we ran our set plays,” Livingston said. “They studied us well and they knew what we were going to do. Tonight we kept everybody moving and that was great.

“We didn’t make that many threes, but we relied mostly on our bigs,” he added. “The inside game helped us out a lot.”

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