Skyhawks are flying: NTU men’s basketball teams open season with exhibition battles

GALLUP – A late run by Navajo Technical College was not enough to overcome a 12-point deficit with three minutes to go.

The NTU Skyhawks gave 24th national ranked Hillcrest Prep all they could handle before coming up short 82-76 before an average crowd at Gallup High School on Sunday afternoon against the Phoenix prep school.

“That was their eighth game of the season and for us to play our first exhibition game and lose by three possessions, I’m ecstatic to be honest,” second year NTU coach Rob Floco said. “I mean, they got seven Division I players. They have one that signed with Akron University. Another one has an LSU offer so it was a good test for us.”

The Hillcrest Prep matchup was the first of two exhibition games the Skyhawks played on Sunday with the NTU developmental team squaring off with Adams State University’s B-Team in the late game.

In that contest, the visiting Grizzlies closed out the last five minutes on a 11-7 run to post a 79-71 win as NTU had chances to take over the lead in the second half.

“We had some good spurts here and there,” NTU assistant coach Christian Lee said of his squad. “We just couldn’t get over that hump to take the lead. You know, it’s a young team and we’re a developmental team with a lot of freshmen in my group.

“They’re still learning their placement and rotation on the team,” he added. “This was a great learning experience for them. It’s showing them the gaps that they need to close right now.”

Both coaches agreed that they got what they wanted from Sunday’s exhibition games.

“We were competitive, and we went on some runs,” Floco said. “We hit some shots, and we lost by three buckets, so it wasn’t that bad.”

Lee said his squad played with high intensity and he got some great guard play from his squad with freshman Dontrelle Denetso leading the way with 14 points.

The Skyhawks also got 10 points each from Joshua Tillman and Tyvonne Kelly while post Freddie McCoo added nine.

After trailing by as much as 15 points in the second half, NTU got within 66-62 with six minutes left after freshman Jayson Redhouse connected on a pair of free throws.

“We switched up the first five and we put in a new group in the second half,” Lee said. “We were playing at a fast pace and what we got was some smart and intelligent plays. That is what the second group gave us.”

Adams State hit 5-of-6 free throws late in the contest to hold off NTU. Grizzlies coach Caleb Cotten said NTU’s frantic pace changed the complexion of the game.

“They did a really good job fighting at the end,” he said. “We just got too sped up, but the clutch free throws we had mattered, so it was good.”

Cotten said they needed a better effort defensively, especially late in the contest.

“We gave up 71 points and that is more than what we would have liked,” he said. “We didn’t communicate very well at times, especially when we were trying to switch out. And sometimes we gave up points right away, so definitely we need a lot of work to be done on the defensive end of the ball for sure.”

In the earlier game, Skyhawk returning guard Jose Miguel Jr. scored five straight points to give NTU a 59-56 edge midway through the second half in this highly competitive contest.

His 3-point shot at the 10:35 mark was NTU’s last trey until true freshman Albrandon Byjoe hit another one with 20 seconds left in the contest.

“We really thrive on defense,” Hillcrest Prep coach Marcus Gantt said. “If we play good defense that leads to good offense. And if we get a stop, we plan on getting a basket on the other end.”

The Skyhawks finished the contest with 13 treys with second-year NTU player Miguel making four while Byjoe and NTU transfer Quinn Atazhoon had three each.

The trio lead NTU in scoring with Atazhoon and Miguel putting up 19 points each and Byjoe chipped in 15.

“I think our veterans kind of showed that they were ready to play,” Floco said of Brady Ramon, Lars Yazzie and Miguel. “I think it’s great with what Byjoe did. I mean, can you imagine he was playing high school basketball six months ago. To see his growth is great and now we just got to continue to progress.

“We just gotta get our young guys more reps and experience,” he added. “I hate to say it, but we’re going to learn by failing and that’s what exhibition games are for.”

Atazhoon said NTU found their outside shots early in the game before they went on a 10-minute cold spell late in the second half.

“That’s what we’ve been doing in practice,” he said. “We just ran our offense, and we got some open looks.”

“Like Q said, we take those shots in practice every day,” Miguel said. “That’s one of our focal points and, you know, coach wants us to push the ball and he gives us the green light to shoot.

“We just got to knock them down and prove that we can take those shots,” he added.

And while NTU lit it up from downtown, the Skyhawks did commit 30 fouls, losing Miguel and starting center Lars Yazzie.

“The fouls obviously hurt,” Floco said. “We actually had a couple of possessions to where we could have made it a one-possession game, but we either turned it over and or we missed a big shot.”

With that many fouls, Hillcrest went to the free throw line 40 times and made 26 free throws.

“That was our goal,” Gantt said. “We felt like we had the advantage of our guards in trying to get by their guards. We wanted to get to the line, but we weren’t expecting to miss 14 free throws.

“We should have made our free throws,” he added. “I know during the season that’s going to hurt if we miss that many.”

Hillcrest Prep was led by Brandon Pooler as he put in a game-best 22 points, making 8-of-12 free throws. Jason Asemota, a Baylor commit, added 17 points which included three treys.

“Brandon Pooler does not have an offer right now, but with a game like that he can be picked up,” Gantt said. “He has been a good vocal leader and he really stepped up in scoring tonight. He had a lot of big shots in the run we had.”

Hillcrest Prep also had Jalen Lyn and Tristen Beckford in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“Tristan Beckford had a couple of finishing dunks,” the Hillcrest Prep coach said of the LSU bound post player.

The Skyhawks will continue their exhibition stretch by hosting ABC Prep of Albuquerque on Saturday in Crownpoint. Next week, the NTU men’s and women’s program will play Eastern Arizona College on Oct. 26 at the Wildcat Den in Chinle.

Floco said ABC Prep is going to be another tough matchup as they signed one of its players to New Mexico State.

“It’s gonna be a competitive game,” he said. “They beat Hillcrest last week. When I said we scheduled up, I really did schedule up by playing the best we can against non-college teams.”

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