SENAI champs: Alamo Navajo boys reclaim tourney title

ALBUQUERQUE – Size matters.

The front court players of Alamo Navajo exploited their height in the championship game of the Bear Bracket at the 13th Annual Striking Eagle Native American Invitational basketball tournament.

The Cougars outscored To’hajiilee 37 to 16 in the second half en route to a 64-37 win Saturday night at Johnson Gym on the UNM campus in Albuquerque.

“I’m lucky enough to have some big, tall guys,” said Alamo Navajo coach Lemuel Guerro, whose team improved to 7-4 overall.

Junior post Andy Pino caused the most damage as he finished with a game-best 23 points while junior forward Zephaniah Guerro added 10 as both players are listed as 6-foot-1.

“Our guards started to feed us on the bottom,” Pino said of his exploits. “But I have to give credit to To’hajiilee. They’re a good team.”

Alamo Navajo scored most of it second-half points 10 feet from the basket as some of those points were scored on putbacks.

“Coach told us to crash the boards as much as we can,” Zephaniah Guerro said. “We just had to jump and grab the rebounds.”

In the opening half, To’hajiilee hung around as it trimmed a 17-9 first-quarter deficit and trailed 27-21 at the break.

“We played a great first half, but they figured us out in the second half,” To’hajiilee coach Ivan Delgarito said. “They were feeding their big guys down below and we didn’t have an answer.”

The first-year To’hajiilee coach suited six players with all but five available to play.

“We don’t have our bigs right now,” Delgarito said of Avery Manny and Cole Johnson. “If I had my bigs, I’m pretty sure we would have held them down below.”

Delgarito is expecting Manny to be back in the lineup by at least Jan. 6 when he gets his cast removed. As for Johnson, he’s nursing an ankle injury and he is looking to rejoin the team in a couple of weeks.

“Even without my bigs I have to give Alamo Navajo a shoutout,” Delgarito said. “They brought their ‘A-game.’”

Behind Khyran Guerro’s 13 first-half points, To’hajiilee nailed some open shots. Meanwhile, Alamo Navajo hit a lull on the offensive end as the Cougars had a tough time to get anything going.

“I think we were lost,” Lemuel Guerro said of his team. “At halftime we talked to the boys, and we had to get them back together and focus on the game.”

In particular, the Alamo Navajo coach felt that his guards played more assertive as sophomore Cobre Mexicano and senior Emmett Duffy finished with nine and eight points, respectively.

“Our guards were driving in, and they were looking for our big guys,” Lemuel Guerro said. “We were also swinging the ball around, and that open up the floor.”

Junior Scotty Guerro, who added five points for Alamo Navajo, said the difference came down to the Cougars controlling the paint.

“In the first half we basically played their game,” Scotty Guerro said of the Warriors. “But in the second half, we played better. We played our game, and we pounded the ball inside. It was just us trusting ourselves.”

The Cougars regained the SENAI crown after placing third last season with they came up short to Pine Hill in the semifinal game. The two teams paired up in another semifinal battle with Alamo Navajo winning 54-38 on Friday night.

“The guys were hungry, and they wanted to win,” Lemuel Guerro said of their 16-point win over Pine Hill.

Alamo Navajo has two nondistrict games with Mescalero Apache on Saturday and Rehoboth Christian on Jan. 9 before the Cougars start District 3-1A play with Carrizozo on Jan. 14.

The rest of the district teams include Mountainair, Hondo Valley and the co-op team of Corona and Vaughn.

“We have chance to be district champs again,” said Lemuel Guerro, who added that he sees Mountainair as their biggest challenge.

“According to MaxPreps, they’re ranked above us,” he said. “They have more wins than us.”

To’hajiilee starts the District 1-1A season with Northwest on Jan. 25. The five-team district also included Tsé Yi Gai, Coronado and Pine Hill.

“Pine Hill is going to be a big challenge for us,” Delgarito said.

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