Second half surge puts Tohatchi boys in district championship game: Cougars upend Zuni, 77-42, in semis

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

TOHATCHI, N.M. – It was a tale of two halves for the Tohatchi boys basketball team.

Tohatchi (22-6) led by seven at halftime, but three treys from senior guard Deandre Rios and a handful of defensive stops ignited a momentum swing for the second-seeded Cougars in the third stanza.

Tohatchi carried that momentum into the fourth as the Cougars advanced into the District 1-3A championship game with a 77-42 win over No. 4 Zuni. The Cougars will take on top-seeded Navajo Prep on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Shiprock High School.

“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Tohatchi coach Kendall Livingston said. “The coaches helped me make the adjustment on what they were seeing and that really helped us in the second half.

“Once we got that momentum going, we never stopped and we just kept our foot on the gas pedal,” he added.

After the break, the Livingston-coached team outscored the Thunderbirds 24 to 12 as the Cougars stretched out that seven-point halftime advantage and turned it into a 54-35 lead heading into the fourth. Rios scored 11 of his game-best 20 points in that quarter while senior Darium Peshlakai chipped in seven.

“Our defense got us there,” said Peshlakai, who finished with 18 points. “We got a couple of stops and after a while we just ran our offense. You know, we made it simpler, and we were more patient. We worked the ball around and we got some easy buckets.”

The Cougars continued to use that strategy and with their unselfish play they put up 23 points in the fourth quarter with seven different players scoring, headed by sophomore guard Jordan Dawes’ seven points.

“That is what we preached about at halftime, you know, sharing the ball,” Livingston said. “We tell them if the shots aren’t there, bring it back to the top and rerun the play.”

With that, Livingston said they made the T-Birds play defense a lot longer than they wanted to.

“I know in that first half, we were just gunning for 3s, but in the second half we started to put in the two-point shots,” he said. “You know when we were patient on the offensive end and not rushing our shots, we started to separate that gap.”

Livingston is looking to use that strategy on Saturday against Navajo Prep. In its two previous meetings with the top-seeded Eagles, Tohatchi came up short by four and five points, respectively.

“Navajo Prep has some good shooters, and they play really aggressive defense as well,” Livingston said. “We’re going to make some adjustments. You know, that’s what got us the last time – we weren’t patient on the offensive end. Once we got down, we started to jack up 3-pointers.

“But as long as we’re patient on the offensive end and run our plays like the way they’re supposed to, we should hang with them,” he added. “We want to win the district championship but it’s going to come down to possessions and who’s more disciplined.”

Zuni, which dropped to 14-15 overall, was led by senior guard Deron Lastyano as he finished with 14 points while senior post Ty’Shawn Nieto chipped 10.

Lastyano scored eight of his points in the opening quarter as the T-Birds kept pace with Tohatchi. Lastyano’s basket with 4:54 earned Zuni it’s only lead of the night at 8-6 with 4:54 remaining.

The two teams then traded buckets for the rest of quarter, settling for a 16-16 tie heading into the second.

After Tohatchi opened the next stanza on a 5-0 run, Lastyano nailed a 3-pointer to get Zuni within 21-19 at the 6:20 mark.

The Cougars, however, ended the quarter on a 9-4 run for a 30-21 halftime cushion.

With Tohatchi taking command in the second half, the T-Birds fell into a deeper hole as they trailed by as much as 32 points in the fourth quarter.

“Our effort and energy were there, but I have to tip my hat off to Tohatchi,” Zuni coach Jaywhon Herron said. “They dismantled us as far as their offensive plan. They had a great plan in place.

“This was our fourth time playing them and our last two games we thought we were close, but I give credit to all of their coaches,” he added. “They came up with a plan to discombobulate us.”

With the loss, the T-Birds will have to wait on Sunday on whether they’ll get selected for the New Mexico Class 3A playoffs, which will feature a 16-team bracket.

Herron said there is a chance they’ll make the playoffs based on what they did the past two weeks.

“We won six games in a row to end the season and I think that will help us,” Herron said. “I hope that we get in, but we were in the same position last year and were three points off from making it.

“I feel a little bit better about making it this year,” he added. “There is something in my gut that says that were in, but I don’t know at this point.”

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