Coming off a win over Durango, the Montezuma-Cortez High School boys basketball team entered last weekend’s home games against Montrose and Fruita Monument brimming with confidence.
As a result, the Panthers went toe-to-toe with Montrose throughout the first two quarters on Feb. 13 and carried a 20-19 lead into halftime. The Panthers were outscored 34-17 in the second half, however, and lost 53-37.
“The first half was great,” said M-CHS head coach Michael Hall. “We came out on fire, and we were running our offense. The tempo of the game was in our favor, and the kids were feeling confident. In the second half, we had a couple of bad plays and offensively, we just couldn’t make anything.”
Among the game’s bright spots, according to Hall, was the play of senior Taylor Wilson, who led M-CHS in scoring and played solid defense.
“I was proud of what Taylor did on the defensive end,” said Hall. “He really shut down Montrose’s top scorer.”
One day after facing off against Montrose, the Panthers returned to action against Fruita Monument and lost, 52-50.
M-CHS led 20-11 at the end of the first quarter of the back-and-forth game, but was outscored 18-4 in the second quarter and trailed 29-24 heading into halftime.
After an even third quarter ended with Fruita leading 44-39, M-CHS made a spirited run over the final eight minutes and trailed 52-50 with less than 15 seconds to go.
Coming out of a timeout, the Panthers inbounded the ball to senior shooting guard Konnar McGee, who caught the ball on the right wing and fired up a three pointer with eight seconds left. The shot went just long however.
With the loss, M-CHS fell to 6-14 on the season, while Fruita Monument improved to 5-16 on the year.
Next up for the Panthers will be the eight-team Southwest League/West Slope League District Tournament, which will take place in Grand Junction, Feb. 19-22. The top-four teams in the tournament automatically advance to state.
M-CHS will open the tournament against Montrose at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 19.
“Our goal is to go in and win one of the first games to be in the top four,” said Hall. “The kids know that they can compete. We need to go in and beat Montrose.”