Rock Point boys move up to No. 10 in AIA rankings

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

ROCK POINT, Ariz. – The latest Arizona Interscholastic Association 1A power rankings were released on Wednesday afternoon, and it has the Rock Point boys basketball team at No. 10.

Late last week, the Cougars were ranked No. 12 as they moved up two spots after posting three wins.

“The rankings are really not on our minds right now, but I feel like we’re playing like a top 10 team,” Rock Point coach Colin Begay said. “We’re gonna continue to move forward, and we’re gonna take it one game at a time.”

The Cougars enter the final stretch of the regular season at 15-6 and 6-1 in 1A North Region play. Their overall record does not include last night’s game with No. 6 Williams as results for that contest were not available as the paper went to print. Rock Point will host BASIS Flagstaff on Friday night to complete its regular season finale.

Last Friday night, Rock Point defeated Music Mountain 81-58 in a freedom game. The Cougars then posted wins over 1A North counterparts Fredonia (71-45) on Saturday and Red Mesa (47-31) on Monday.

Against Music Mountain, the Begay-coached team trailed only once at 3-2 but the Cougars took the lead for good on an 18-10 run, which was buoyed by a trio of 3s from sophomore Lemarquis Begay and two by senior Ryer James, who pumped in a game-high 33 points with six treys and 9-of-14 free throws.

With that surge, Rock Point opened a 20-12 cushion before the visiting Warriors pulled within 23-17 entering the second.

A 3-pointer by James jumpstarted another run as the Cougars stretched that six-point cushion into a 36-19 lead with 1:33 left before the half. At the break, the home team enjoyed a 40-25 advantage.

For much of the second half, Cougars held onto its double-digit lead, but Music Mountain got as close as nine in the third quarter. Nonetheless, Rock Point produced some stops on the defensive end, and they converted on the other end.

“When we pressured up, we were getting steals and that helped,” Begay said. “I mean, we got to score on their turnovers.”

Still, Begay had some concerns as Rock Point picked up some needless fouls that allowed Music Mountain to make a run.

“The fouls kind of hurts us a little bit,” Begay said. “I mean, we had 12 fouls in that third quarter, so we had to handle that adversity. When we get into foul trouble it kind of scares us to where we stop playing defense.”

In addition to James, the Cougars also had three other players in double figures. Junior guard Quintin Yazzie finished with 17 points, Lemarquis Begay added 12 and sophomore Shiloh Chee had 11. Senior Tristan Begay helped with nine.

As part of their body of work, the Cougars defeated Mogollon 64-61 earlier this season as Mogollon was ranked No. 12 in the latest AIA power rankings. The Cougars did come up short to No. 1 Fort Thomas (93-55), No. 9 St. David (52-46) and No. 11 Dishchii’bikoh (53-42). They also dropped a 41-33 decision to 2A school Round Valley on Dec. 20.

“We started the season strong and then we had a few losses, including one to Round Valley,” Begay said. “That game is where we kind of found out that frustration does not help us at all. It was my job to bring the team back together, and to tell them that we have a whole season to look forward to.

“One game is not going to determine the outcome of where we want to be,” he added. “I think with that game, emotions kind of creeped in, and it didn’t help us in that game at all.”

The only blemish they have in 1A North play is against Dishchii’bikoh as that game was played on Jan. 17.

“We played a game before that and some of us we’re a little off,” said James, who is Rock Point’s consistent threat.

The senior forward said playing Mogollon the day before affected their play as they played with less energy.

“That game with Mogollon took a lot out of us,” he said. “The next day we weren’t feeling energetic playing Dishchii’bikoh.”

James said the wins they have accumulated this season can be credited to teamwork. And while he’s the go-to person for Rock Point, there are others that have stepped up.

“Quintin and Tristan usually score behind me,” James said. “You know, Quintin plays defense really well. He gets steals and he takes it to the rim. Tristan gets boards and he can shoot.”

The Rock Point coach agreed while adding that James is leading by example.

“Ryer is the leader of our team and I expect that from him,” Begay said. “He’s just a versatile player; he plays on the inside, and he can play on the outside. He’s a big piece of our defense as well, so he’s just an overall player.”

“Not only on the court, but he’s a leader in the classroom and when we go to practice,” he added.

As for his other role players, Begay likes what he’s seeing from Yazzie and sophomores Shiloh Chee and Lemarquis Begay.

“Quintin and Lemarquis mostly plays up defensively in our 2-3 defense,” Begay said. “With them, we get stops when they can stand their ground defensively. Shiloh is kind plays a forward, too.

“When those three steps into their roles and they understand what they need to do during the games, yeah, we can be a really good team,” he said. “They help on us on the defensive side, and they help us take the ball down whenever we’re being pressured.”

With the playoffs around the corner, Begay is looking to continue this upward trend as Rock Point has won six of their last seven games.

“The goal is to play the best basketball that we can play,” Begay said. “We got to show who we are and like I said, we I think we can play like a top 10 team.”

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