Rehoboth, Tohatchi boys to meet in title game

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

REHOBOTH, N.M. – The finals of the Rehoboth Christian boys basketball tournament is set and it will feature a rematch between the two finalists from one year ago.

Rehoboth and Tohatchi will be meeting in Saturday’s 4 p.m. title game for the second straight year as the Cougars won last year’s championship tilt by a 56-53 count.

Both teams cruised to easy wins on Friday night as the Lynx overwhelmed Crownpoint, 63-21, while Tohatchi pulled away from Zuni with a 73-46 win.

“I think they played very well tonight,” Rehoboth coach Kevin Zwiers said of his club. “We’re growing, right? I mean, we only have two seniors and so each game is an opportunity to learn.

“We’re learning roles and each time we’re on the court it gets better and better,” he added. “I was excited with what we did tonight. We took some real steps forward.”

The Lynx were led by senior guard Trajen West and senior forward Kodah Chapman as the two players combined for 39 points with West scoring a game-high 26 points.

“We definitely can get a really balanced attack,” Zwiers said. “We have size, we have shooters and we have guards that can penetrate so we have a lot of options of how to score. Again, it’s finding how to do that, and how to do that best.”

With eight points, Crownpoint was led by junior Kory Harvey.

In the bottom half of the bracket, Tohatchi had three players in double figures with senior Myka Candeleria leading the charge with 25 points while senior DeAndre Rios and sophomore Myles Candelaria added 18 points apiece.

Rios says they made it emphasis to share the ball and look for each other to get by the Thunderbirds.

“We’re pretty much a pass-first team,” Rios said. “We try to get our teammates involved and I’m glad that we got that throughout the first half.

“The second half was better because we got to share the ball more,” he added. “I think all of us had at least five assists, so I’m pretty good with that. I rather have that than scoring.”

The T-Birds received 19 points from senior forward Ty’Shawn Nieto while senior guard Deron Lastyano added 11.

With a lineup that resembles having five guards on the floor, Rios says the team is motivated to overcome the challenges they face.

“We’re the underdogs and we like taking these challenges,” he said. “I’m glad we surpassed this challenge and (on Saturday) we can’t overlook Rehoboth. We just got to keep playing how we’re playing.”

Earlier this week, the Cougars defeated Rehoboth 45-35 as Tohatchi executed its offensive and defensive schemes nearly spot-on.

That blueprint was on full display against Zuni as the T-Birds had a tough time stopping Tohatchi’s penetration.

“Because of our size we’re going to be the underdogs no matter who we got, but these guys are relentless,” Tohatchi coach Kendall Livingston said. “They rely on each other and, yeah, there are times where we have breakdowns but the great thing about this team is they never give up on each other.

“They just keep going,” he added, “and if we continue to keep doing that, we’re going to be successful.”

Earlier on Friday, the Hózhó Academy Wolves defeated the Ramah Mustangs by a 51-31 count while the Pine Hill Warriors defeated the co-op team of Native American Community College and Evangel Christian Academy 54-38 in the consolation bracket.

The final day of the eight-team tournament will have Pine Hill playing the NACA/Evangel co-op team for seventh place at 11:30 a.m. followed by the fifth-place game between Hózhó and Pine Hill.

Crownpoint and Zuni will then play for the third-place game at 2:30 p.m. followed by the championship game.

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