Navajo Prep Eagles competitive against bigger schools

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

GRANTS – Defending New Mexico 3A state semifinalist Navajo Prep competed in the prestigious Clovis Invitational last week playing against larger schools.

Competing against 4A and 5A competition, the Eagles battled a trio of larger schools to the final seconds before coming up just short. The Eagles lost their three contests by a total of eight points.

“We scheduled these games to be tested,” said Navajo Prep head coach Matt Melvin, who returned nine players off last year’s 26-3 team. “Definitely can’t stand losing but you also don’t learn a lot from winning. Every game was a four-quarter battle. We wanted to see if we could go compete with some of the bigger schools in the state. We had chances to win every game we played but just didn’t make enough plays when it counted,” Melvin continued. “We were far from perfect, a lot of stuff we need to work on but not all bad. But that’s what you want to see right now, grow, fix it and be better.”

In the opening round last Wednesday, Navajo Prep rallied in the fourth quarter before falling to No. 2 ranked Class 4A Valley, 66-61.

In the second round last Friday, the Eagles were overtaken by tourney host and No. 10-ranked 5A Clovis, 59-58, in a heartbreaking loss.

During the three games, Navajo Prep freshman point guard Breygen Benally scored 30 points, including 20 in the loss to Clovis in which he buried five treys. Junior guard/forward Xavier New scored 63 points, senior center/forward Orion King tallied 36, and senior guard/wing Jude Thomas contributed 25.

In their final tournament game last Friday, Navajo Prep was nipped by Class 5A Las Cruces 55-53 in another close loss.

After being unbeaten at 5-0 heading into the tournament and ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, Navajo Prep drops to 5-3 overall and slips down to No. 3 in the state rankings.

Against the Valley Vikings, the Eagles trailed 14-9 in the first quarter and 31-20 at the half. Prep still was down 51-38 after three periods. The Eagles rallied to outscore the Vikings 23 to 14 in the fourth quarter but came up short, 66-61.

Against the Clovis Wildcats, Prep took a 12-11 first quarter lead before trailing 25-24 at intermission. The Eagles had a strong third quarter to grab a 44-39 lead. But Clovis stormed back in the final period to escape with a 59-58 win.

Against the Las Cruces Bulldawgs, Navajo Prep lost a nail bitter 55-53 in another close contest.

Navajo Prep will continue its tough pre-conference competition as it will be competing in the Rio Rancho Invitational that started yesterday.

Navajo Prep would have played No. 2 Class 4A Highland in the first round. No score was available at press time.

In its second-round game Thursday, the Eagles will play either the winner or loser of the Hope Christian/Espanola Valley first round game. The tournament will end Friday.

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