Valdez totals 41 points, Roubideaux 36 in wins
Reaching the free-throw line just once, as had happened the previous night, wasn’t going to help the Bobcats Saturday evening, Jan. 13, against a 2A/1A San Juan Basin League opponent so historically resolute that head coach Chris Valdez could have cared less about its win-loss record.
As he more likely expected, Telluride again took Ignacio to task.
Unfortunately for the Miners, the Bobcats were – for the most part – up to it and prevailed 61-46 after the Miners – just 1-6 overall, 0-2 SJBL coming in – managed to build a 12-8 advantage after eight regulation minutes. But after an experiment in man-to-man defense didn’t earn a passing grade, the skipper ordered his team to switch to a more familiar 2-3 zone and dared THS to beat them from the outside.
“The second quarter, we got back to our zone, where we’re more comfortable,” Valdez said. “That was big, but we’ve got to get used to man because there are times when we’re going to have to have it.”
“We came out … trying to stay with them, but we got out of sequence with dumb fouls.”
Senior forward/center Kai Roubideaux led Ignacio with 20 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Coming off a strong 22-point performance in the previous night’s 67-32 defeat of Ridgway, junior guard Lawrence Valdez added 19 points, and senior guard Johnny Valdez upped his scoring from eight points against the Demons to 12 against the Miners.
Senior guard Cole McCaw totaled 13 points in the weekend wins, which left Ignacio – ranked ninth in the CHSAANow.com Class 2A poll going in – standing 6-3 overall, 5-0 in league despite still not yet having played with a complete roster this season.
Up next, the ’Cats will continue league play traveling to Norwood on Saturday, Jan. 20, then host Dolores February 1st. Results from IHS’ non-league trip to 2A Sargent on Thursday, Jan. 18, were unavailable at press time.
DRUBBING THE DEMONS
Racing out to leads of 11-0 via a Lawrence Valdez three-pointer, and 13-0 via a Johnny Valdez layup before senior Colin Kraft got the guests on the scoreboard, IHS was never in danger of dropping their first league contest this winter.
Up 22-6 after the first quarter, Ignacio never let Ridgway get closer than 26-15, after senior Jimmy Saville sank a three with 3:02 left before halftime – at which point the Bobcats had rebuilt their lead to 31-16, before increasing it to 50-27 heading into the fourth.
Roubideaux reached double figures in the 35-point romp with his 16 points, including the squad’s sole foul-line attempt during the final frame. Sophomore guard Keegan Schurman recorded five points and freshman posts Dylan Labarthe and Bryce Finn each contributed four with sophomore regular Ocean Hunter unavailable.
Kraft’s nine points led the Demons (1-7, 0-2), Saville was right behind with eight and sophomore post Blake Rutherford managed to score six.