Pine Hill, Tohajiilee boys to play for top seed in District 1-1A

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

TOHAJIILEE, N.M. – The regular season champion in District 1-1A for boys basketball will be decided on Monday night.

The Pine Hill and To’hajiilee teams split the regular season series and finished with identical 7-1 records in league play.

Tipoff to determine the No. 1 and 2 seeds is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Grants High School with the winner earning the automatic bid to the New Mexico Class 1A state playoffs.

Pine Hill won the first meeting, 61-52, on Jan. 29 on their home court behind the 20-point effort turned in by junior guard Alexavier Beaver.

To’hajiilee returned the favor and held serve on their court with a 74-49 win on Feb. 5 with sophomore guard Omar Apachito putting up a game-best 28 points.

“It’s up-and-down,” To’hajiilee first-year coach Lyle Nelson said of the season series. “I mean, Pine Hill is a good team and we just got to continue to play hard. They (Pine Hill) played their best there and we played our best here on our home court.

“And for the upcoming game it’s going to be the same,” he added. “I think the crowd is going to make a difference. If our boys come out hard, we should be OK. We just got to be comfortable.”

Pine Hill enters the district playoff game with an 18-8 record, which includes playing teams at the 3A and 2A level in East Mountain, Laguna Acoma, Mescalero Apache, Santa Rosa, and Socorro.

“It was a very good (regular) season, and we played a lot of good teams,” Nelson said. “I’d say we played our best when we played against good teams. That is where I want our boys to be, to play at that level.”

The Pine Hill team will be leaning on senior forward Avery Manning, senior guard Khyran Guerro and Apachito for Monday night’s game.

“Omar has stepped up big for us this year and he’s only a sophomore,” Nelson said. “Khyran is my dominant player and I look at him to run the offense and he’s a big factor on our team. Scoring-wise, Khyran and Omar have been going back and forth and they work very well together, and they have been a difference this season.”

On Saturday afternoon, To’hajiilee hit 11 treys en route to a 74-41 district win over the Northwest Falcons on Senior Day as four players were recognized. Guerro led all scorers with 23 points, which included four treys.

The Nelson-coached team also received a dozen points from Apachito while freshman Khyler Guerro chipped in 11 and senior Dylan Chapo added 10.

Six treys, four by To’hajiilee, made for an interesting opening quarter as Pine Hill led 16-11. The Warriors picked up where they left off by downing four 3-pointers in the next stanza as their lead blossomed to 34-18 at the break.

“When they’re coming out of the locker room, it’s hard to tell which team is coming out,” Nelson said. “The team that came out in the first quarter played with a lot of emotions and they did not execute as well as I wanted them to do.

“Defensively, in the second quarter that is where we stopped (Northwest),” he added. “And when we stop balls, that is when our transition gets going.”

Northwest, which fell to 6-12 overall, received 11 points from junior Kyden Johnson while seniors Xathyus Johnson and Ethan Begay both finished with nine points apiece.

The Falcons received the No. 4 seed for the district tournament, and they are traveling to play third-seeded Coronado on Monday night with the game slated for 6 p.m.

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