Rehoboth’s simple approach paying off as playoffs near

Posted by Donovan Quintero | Feb 20, 2020 | Basketball |

REHOBOTH, N.M.

The Rehoboth Lynx basketball team made it look easy, but a lot of things had to fall in place Saturday when they played the Shiprock Northwest Falcons.

At the start of the whistle, Rehoboth took control of the ball and never looked back as they stunned the Falcons with their stingy defense that the Lynx exploited on the offensive side.

Rehoboth took advantage of the turnovers and turned them into points – where it matters.

The Lynx routed the Falcons 62-24, with two of the team’s top scorers, Talon West and Jake Zylstra, accounting for nearly half of the total score.

“We got some pretty good pieces and so we played some pretty good defense,” Lynx coach Kevin Zwiers said. “We rebounded well, we were able to get out in transition and get some easy stuff. So, shots go down and that makes the game look simple.”

The Lynx’s starting bench pitched in and ended the first quarter with 16 points, compared to Shiprock Northwest’s two points by Todd McDonald.

The second quarter went slightly better for the Falcons, but only after Zwiers substituted his starters with his second-stringers. That still wasn’t enough to cut into the 34-14 lead Rehoboth acquired by the end of the second quarter.

Rehoboth started the third quarter like the first and continued scoring 21 more points before ending the quarter at 55-20. The Falcons only scored four more points in the fourth, while Rehoboth added nine.

With its win, Zwiers said his team is improving and is on a three-game winning streak. And with one game left in the regular season against Dulce, a win there could affect their standing in the district.

“I think that puts us at 8-3 in our district,” the Lynx coach said. “I think Newcomb, they’re like 8-2, something like that. And then Navajo Pine is, I think is 8-2. Dulce, I think they’re like 7-1. So, I mean right now we are in fourth place in our district.”

The Lynx played Dulce, whose district record is 6-2, on Jan. 31 and lost 57-48. Rehoboth is currently seeded in third place, behind Dulce and the Newcomb Skyhawks, who sit at the top of the food chain with an 8-2 record in the district.

Newcomb is on a seven-game winning streak after beating Navajo Pine 66-62 on Tuesday night. They will play a make-up game against the 3-19 Ramah Mustangs tonight at Ramah.

Skyhawk coach Dominique Richardson said in a telephone interview on Tuesday a win against Navajo Pine would practically guarantee them their No. 1 seeding with a 9-2 record.

For the bigger picture at the state level, Richardson said the Magdalena Steers were undefeated and would be a challenge if they were to face them in the state playoffs. The Steers have a 23-0 overall record and a 6-0 record in their district. Richardson also mentioned the Pecos Panthers as another traditionally tough team they could face off in the playoffs.

Pecos sits at the top in its district with a 5-0 record, and a 23-1 overall record. The Santa Fe Demons, a 5A team, gave Pecos its only loss. Since then the Panthers have been on a 20-game winning streak.

But before either Rehoboth or Newcomb can start planning to play against Pecos or Magdalena, they first have to battle it out in their district.

“We’ll just have to see how the district finishes out. Depending on how the rest of the games play out and how we finish, we’ll see about how playoffs work the week after,” Zwiers said. “I’m proud of my guys. They continue to work hard, they continue to get better and better. You know, that’s what we look to do.”

Of his team, Richardson said, “We just went back to playing the basics of basketball: boxing out, rebounding; getting back to our mentality, playing hard and playing defense.”