Southwest Food Excellence Winter Classic: Coaches favor round robin tournament

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

CHINLE – There were plenty of positives taken from the 2025 Southwest Food Excellence Winter Classic over the weekend.

The annual Chinle tournament did not hand out any trophies, but it allowed the teams that were entered to play four, five games over two days. Unofficially the Wildcat boys and the Navajo Prep girls emerged as champions as they both went undefeated.

“The idea was we wanted to get a round robin tournament where it’s less travel demand for teams, it’s less money for teams to spend, but it’s an opportunity to give kids a lot of playing time,” Chinle boys basketball coach CJ Woods said. “It gave them some practice time and it promoted everybody instead of just having a championship team. I think it was received with a lot of positivity because it gave teams an opportunity to try different lineups and matchups.”

The Wildcats (11-4 overall) won all their games by double digits as they scored wins over Many Farms (88-31), Navajo Prep (68-46), Wingate (66-37) and Hopi (71-40).

“You know, the first half of the season, we’ve been on-and-off and so we had to learn a lot,” Woods said. “We missed a lot of shots and what we focused on was putting as much pressure as we could on the ball, sharing the ball with one another, and playing hard all the time.”

That scheme seemed to work, especially against the two New Mexico teams in Navajo Prep and Wingate.

“It was our defense,” Woods said of their 29-point win over Wingate. “We put some pressure on them right away and we got ahead. I wouldn’t want to play a halfcourt game with Wingate, so I’m glad we put pressure on the ball.”

As for Navajo Prep, the Chinle coach says their ball pressure defense allowed them to pull away.

“I thought that we did a great job of forcing them to play to our tempo during that game,” Woods said. “We also hit some shots, too, because Navajo Prep is a pretty good basketball team. They’re a team that can really get it going so I think it was nice that we hit some shots.”

Navajo Prep first-year coach Edward Harrison says his club kept the game close for nearly one half against Chinle, but they they lost some discipline on the defensive end, which led to an 11-point halftime deficit.

“We kept it a one-possession game with about two minutes before halftime and I feel like we got a little chaotic on the defensive end and Chinle was just so patient with the basketball,” Harrison said. “In the third, we tried to close the gap, but we traded baskets. Going into the fourth, we kept trading baskets and they pulled away.”

That setback gave Navajo Prep its first loss of the season. Nonetheless, the Eagles (6-1) finished out the tournament with a 3-1 record as they posted wins over Wingate (76-60), Hopi (56-36) and Red Mesa (82-30).

“I was happy with how the guys competed,” Harrison said. “We just have to continue to grow from this.”

Many Farms coach Jeremy Begay also praised the round robin format as the Lobos went 3-1 during the two-day tournament.

“I like that the tournament is local,” Begay said. “It’s a lot of fun and there’s three gyms being used at one time. There’s a lot of competitive teams out there and this is just extra games for my basketball team for development, for confidence, and we’re definitely going to grow from this.”

Longtime Hopi coach Rick Baker was another coach who favored the round robin tournament.

“We got some good games (on Friday), and we played Navajo Prep and I think that was a good game for us,” Baker said. “It was an even game with Navajo Prep, but tonight we got outplayed and we were outmatched. It’s tough to operate when you play a good team like Chinle. But we got some good games that we won here.”

Girls

Of the four games they played, the Navajo Prep Lady Eagles eked out a 41-38 win over Chinle, the tournament host on Saturday night.

The Eagles had an effective outing in the second stanza as they stretched a 14-13 advantage and turned it into a 24-14 cushion at the break.

In the third, Navajo Prep nursed its lead to 29-16, but the Wildcats came roaring back.

“Throughout the whole season, we either have a slow start or we have a slow third quarter and that’s something we’re trying to correct,” Navajo Prep coach Rainy Crisp said. “Those are the two things that we really have to tighten up, but once we have a complete solid four quarters, I think we’re going to be really tough.”

After trailing by 13 points, the Wildcats put together a 10-0 run in the last three minutes of the third to get within 29-26.

In the fourth, the Wildcats led briefly at 31-30 when sophomore forward Haidyn John hit 1-of-2 free throws with 5:57 left in regulation. Navajo Prep, however, scored six straight points to regain the momentum.

“They scored in a quick manner,” Chinle coach Francine McCurtain said. “We’re not thinking about the next play because when we scored, we didn’t get back in time and they made some easy layups on us. It’s just a lack of communication, and it’s something that we can correct.”

Despite trailing 36-31 with three minutes left, Chinle had a chance to send the game into overtime late in the contest. McCurtain called a timeout to set up a play, but the inbound pass was deflected.

“We would have if we got the pass directly to our shooter,” McCurtain said when asked if they got a clean look. “The girls did their screens like they were supposed to, but when the ball got deflected it slowed the ball down and so when she got the ball the defense was back on her.”

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