Tohatchi boys start fast in season opener win
Special to the Times | Lee Begaye
Tohatchi sophomore Myles Candelaria lines up for a 3-pointer during Tohatchi’s 45-35 season opener win over the Rehoboth Christian Lynx on Tuesday night.
WINDOW ROCK
Tohatchi boys basketball coach Kendall Livingston liked the effort he saw coming from his team on Tuesday night.
The Cougars beat the Rehoboth Christian Lynx on the road by 45-35 count and they got off to an 11-0 start in their season opener.
“When we went on that 11-0 run, it was mostly our inside game,” Livingston said. “We made some backdoor cuts, and we made our layups, but we tried to keep our game even with our outside and inside game.”
Defensively, the Cougars went zone for most of the night as they handcuffed Rehoboth’s inside game.
“We were trying to take away the middle because they have some tall players,” Livingston said of the Lynx. “We took away their middle and we forced them to take their shots outside. The guys talked a lot, and they communicated a lot on the defensive end.
“That is what we stressed, and we told them to continue to talk,” he added. “Our backside rotations were there, but we had to keep talking and keep rotating.”
The third-year coach attributed the 10-point triumph as a team effort while adding that his assistant coaches provided some necessary insight.
“It was an overall team effort,” Livingston said. “I mean, the communication was there, the defensive schemes were there, the talking was there, and my assistant coaches were helping me along the way. They see stuff that I don’t, and they let me know so it was an overall good team win.”
Despite losing players like Josh Dawes, Kyle Yazzie and Adriano Begay to graduation last spring, the Cougars are looking to stay relevant at the Class 3A level.
“We picked up where we left off last season, but we’re smaller,” Livingston said. “We don’t have the height like we had last year but we don’t let that fool you. We’re gonna go into every game as the underdog because when everybody looks at us, they’re like, ‘Oh, they’re small,’ but we understand what we’re doing. We’re gonna keep playing team basketball.”
On Thursday, the Cougars will make the trip back to Rehoboth High School as Tohatchi is looking to defend its tournament title. The Livingston-coached team opens the eight-team tournament with Ramah at 7:30 p.m.
The other matchups on Thursday include the 3 p.m. game between Crownpoint and the NACA/Evangel co-op team in the top half of the bracket. At 4:30 p.m., Hózhó Academy plays Zuni in the bottom bracket followed by the Rehoboth and Pine Hill contest, which starts at 6 p.m.
With Rehoboth on the top half, there is a chance that Tohatchi could play the Lynx for the second time this week as both teams are looking to make the championship game on Saturday, which is scheduled for 4 p.m.
“We want to defend our title but we’re going to take it one game at a time,” Livingston said. “We’re not gonna overlook anybody. What we want to do is keep developing our bench players, so they get a feel of the real live intensity of the game.”
Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow