IHS boys atone for home loss to Sanford
Pitched an improbable, if not unthinkable shutout during the first quarter of – and ultimately defeated in – their 2023-24 home opener Friday night, Dec. 8, the Ignacio Bobcats bounced back the next evening with a road win in which they fittingly held their opponent scoreless for a stanza.
Traveling east and over Wolf Creek Pass to 2A Del Norte, the ’Cats blanked the Tigers 7-0 during the second quarter and went into halftime up 14-6, en route to a 44-25 victory – effectively offsetting a 45-38 loss to 2A Sanford, which sprinted out to an 18-zip lead after the opening eight minutes, inside expectant IHS Gymnasium.
“It was a combination of things; them getting their big guy (senior Gabe Cox) in foul trouble, us getting some buckets,” SHS head coach Brice Crowther said, looking to explain the inexplicable. “And they had some open looks but just couldn’t capitalize. It wasn’t anything we did; we were just on the good side of luck that quarter.”
“Cox had three fouls in the front court – in the first half! – and he can’t … put his team in that situation,” longtime IHS leader Chris Valdez said. “We had to pull him out the whole first quarter, and … we don’t really have a(nother) ‘big’ guy. But we had some open shots, you know; I didn’t think the pressure hurt us as bad as I thought it would.”
“And even when Ambrose (Valdez) went out of the game with a couple fouls and the technical he got, we came back and closed the gap – without him and without Cox,” Valdez said. “So that was encouraging, that other people can play the game and that we can depend on other people.”
Still able to battle for a game-high 17 points at home versus the Mustangs, Cox went 4-of-8 from the free-throw line at DNHS and totaled ten points. Junior Coty Webb sank two three-pointers and tallied ten for 3A IHS (3-2 overall, 0-0 3A/4A Intermountain), and senior Devante Montoya contributed six points – as did senior Phillip Quintana, who’d fouled out with 20.5 ticks left in regulation (and without scoring) against Sanford and then ended up with four personals against the Tigers.
Montoya and junior Charley Pargin were each hit with three fouls, but Cox was whistled for just one.
Trailing 7-6 after the first quarter, Del Norte (1-3, 0-0 2A/3A Southern Peaks) ended up getting eight points from junior Tytus Atencio, all after halftime. Sinking the Tigers’ only two treys and totaling eight points during the fourth quarter, sophomore Kelby Mondragon – injured during DNHS’ season-ending football loss to, ironically, Ignacio – finished with a team-best nine points before fouling out (as did scoreless junior LaShawn Trujillo), and sophomore Noah Bailey booked five points in defeat.
“And they’re good; they played against Lamar and lost by one point, then the next night Lamar beat Alamosa by ten (41-30, actually),” Valdez noted. “They’re nothing to overlook; they’re going to be a good team, and they’re going to come to play!”
Having not scored for the first 8:29 against Sanford (1-1, 0-0 SPL), the Bobcats clawed back to 23-16 by halftime with Cox exploding for a dozen second-quarter points. Ignacio’s rally continued through the third quarter, with a running jumper by sophomore reserve Trace Crane bringing the ’Cats back to 31-26 before the Mustangs got four FTs in as many chances by junior Ben Sittler to go into the fourth quarter leading 38-27.
Treys by senior Trajan Garcia and Pargin – both assisted by Cox – pulled IHS back to 38-35 with 5:44 remaining inside the roaring house, and with about 3:30 to go Sanford was still vulnerable after a second Garcia three re-trimmed the deficit down to 42-38.
Crowther used a timeout with 1:39 left, following a bucket inside by sophomore Trason Gartrell, giving SHS a six-point lead. And though Ignacio was able to find open shooters at the other end, no more attempts dropped through the net. Slowed by fouls himself, SHS senior Cash Caldon then capped the victory with one FT in two tries after Quintana departed.
“We were coming back, (Caldon) was in trouble and on the bench, there’s three-and-a-half minutes to go … and we can’t get the ball into the post,” said Valdez. “That’s where we needed the ball to try and put pressure on them, and we threw up dumb shots. So, we’ve got to learn, man, but the kids – when they came back – did a great job.”
Pargin ended up with seven points in the loss and Garcia six. Sophomore Sonny Flores came off the bench to chip in four points, Crane finished with his two, while Montoya and Webb each logged one. Ending up 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, Sittler totaled a Sanford-best 14 points and Gartrell finished with ten (though a credited scorer of one of the Mustangs’ two-point baskets during the third quarter, resulting from a goaltending violation, was not announced).
Ignacio went just 5-of-15 from the charity stripe; Sanford shot an accurate 13-of-16.
“We knew we were going to have our hands full coming here,” Crowther said. “It’s a great environment … and our guys did enough. We knew we’d get their best punches, so I was really proud of our boys for … not backing down, just taking it one play at a time. I thought we did a really good job of that.”