Tuba City boys making a push for 3A playoffs

FORT DEFIANCE – The boys basketball pairings for the Arizona 3A state playoffs will be announced early next month.

Tuba City is hoping to be one of the 24 teams that make this year’s field. The Warriors have some work to do, though, as they were ranked No. 28 in last Friday’s Arizona Interscholastic Association’s (AIA’s) statewide polls.

“We know what we’re up against,” Tuba City coach Pete Butler said. “There are certain games that we need to win to get us, you know, in that round of 24. We kind of mapped out what we need to do.”

That road map entailed a must-win scenario for the team Saturday night as Tuba City outpaced host Window Rock, 54-46, in a key 3A North Region showdown at the Bee Hółdzil Fighting Scouts Event Center in Fort Defiance.

“I had to remind them that this game was crucial to us,” Butler said. “We got to get this one on the road. You know, it’s always hard to win here in Window Rock because of the elevation.”

According to Wikipedia, there is a nearly 1,900-feet difference in elevation between the two Navajo communities with Fort Defiance having an altitude of 6,798 feet.

“This place is pretty high, and my guys were sucking wind,” Butler said. “They could feel it.”

After trailing 12-11 in the opening quarter, the Warriors ratcheted up their defensive pressure, holding Window Rock to seven points in the second stanza.

Offensively, junior guard Tyler Tsinnie carried the offensive load for Tuba City as he scored seven of his game-best 16 points in that quarter with the Warriors taking a 29-19 advantage at the break.

Behind subpar shooting, neither team could find any rhythm in the third quarter as Window Rock outscored the Warriors 9 to 6. The Fighting Scouts got a late three from sophomore guard Jaylen Brown to approach within 35-28 heading into the fourth.

The Butler-coached team went up by a dozen points, 40-30 (42-30? 40-28?), following Tsinnie’s old-fashioned three-point play with 7:04 left.

Later in the quarter, Window Rock used a 9-2 run to get within 48-44 but that was as close as they came.

The Warriors closed out the win behind junior Aidan Dugi’s six points, which included a perfect 4-of-4 effort at the charity line. For the game, Tuba City converted an impressive 17-of-19 free throws in its eight-point win.

“That was really huge because we’ve struggled at the free throw line,” Butler said. “We’re probably a 50% free throw shooting team. I cringe when we get to (the) free throw line.

“Tonight, it gave us a little breathing room,” he added.

With seven more games left in the regular season, the Warriors are looking to win a few more before the start of the 3A North Region Tournament that is scheduled for Feb. 8 to 10 at the events center in Fort Defiance.

“We’re looking at our chances and we still need to win games on the road,” Butler said. “We still have to go to Ganado and win that one. We have to at least steal one game from one of the top three teams – Page, Chinle and Monument Valley – on their home court to give us a chance to be in the playoffs.

“It’s going to come down to a tight race,” he added. “There’s opportunities, and we talk about different scenarios to get us in.”

And though his team lacks size, Butler feels that they are still contenders in the 3A North race.

“We have to compensate by doing a good job boxing out and being aggressive defensive end,” the Tuba City coach said. “That is what we have to do more and more. We’re getting better at it,

“We’re not a complete team yet, but we’re getting there,” he added. “We started off as a one-quarter team and now we’ve progressed to two, three quarters. We’re almost ready to put four quarters together. If we do that, good things will happen for us.”

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