One losing streak had to end Saturday.
Fortunately for the Montezuma-Cortez High School Panthers basketball team, the right one ended.
M-CHS made 9 of 13 free throws down the stretch to hold off a hungry Grand Junction Central team seeking its first win. That first win for the Warriors (0-21, 0-7 5A/4A Southwestern League) will have to wait. The Panthers, on the other hand, stopped their five-game losing skid with a 55-52 victory.
We kind of got over the hump. It was good for them to get a win and pick their chins back up off the floor, M-CHS coach Eric White said with a laugh. We made our free throws down the end. Its just a big confidence builder for this whole team.
The Panthers (11-9, 2-5 SWL) won for the first time since knocking off Central, 69-57, on the road Jan. 13. The fifth consecutive loss came Friday night at home to Montrose, 64-49.
The Panthers appeared rejuvenated Friday after a week off. M-CHS stormed to a 10-4 lead behind Destry Smiths inside game and a Jay Rainer 3-pointer. But Nathan Hawley brought the Indians back.
The tall, lanky Hawley hit three consecutive 3s to spark a 15-0 Montrose run. Hawly scored the first 11 in the spurt, followed by four more from Camaron Jones. All of a sudden, the Panthers tailed 19-10. They trailed 19-12 after one quarter when Nick Haukeness stopped the Indians scoring spree with a layup in the last 10 seconds of the opening frame.
Haukeness made another layup to open the second and brought the Panthers within five at 19-14.
However, Montrose had another run in them. The Indians quickly reeled off 10 straight to force a timeout from White. The home team now trailed 29-14.
Smith halted the new Montrose run with a put back lay-in, but Hawley answered that with his fourth 3 to make it 32-16.
Each team made two baskets to close out the half, as hot shooting Montrose led 36-20 at the break.
The Panthers stepped up the defense in the third quarter.
M-CHS forced the Indians into a 10-second, half court violation. Then three straight steals and the scoring of Smith and Rainer, it was just 42-30.
The Panthers got within 10 on separate occasions at 42-32 and 44-34, and had momentum and the crowd going. But Montrose settled down and increased the games tempo. The Indians increased their lead to 56-36, their largest of the game.
The Panthers couldnt climb out of huge hole Montrose dug. The Indians led 64-47 when Smith tipped in a shot at the buzzer for the games final points.
It was a career night for Smith, nonetheless. He scored a new high in points with 20 and snared 12 rebounds for a double-double. Rainer resurrected his stroke with 16 points, including two 3s. Haukeness poured in 11.
Montrose was led by Hawley, who had a game high 24 points and connected four times from downtown. Jones had 16 and Ben Cruz chipped in 10.
On Saturday afternoon, M-CHS got back to its winning ways against Central.
Things didnt start off too hot, though. The Panthers looked lackadaisical, while Central simply played with nothing to lose.
Smith and Haukeness hit layups to put M-CHS up 4-2 early. But the Warriors closed the opening frame on a 13-4 run to lead 15-8.
The entire Central starting five had scored by the second quarter and had shockingly built a 20-10 lead.
A frustrated coach White called timeout. His Panthers came back with the next seven points behind big men Rainer and Haukeness. Now, Central coach Ryan Hayden was forced to use a timeout.
The Warriors were stopped in their tracks, as the Panthers kept coming. Their scoring run swelled to 10-0 and it was now a tie game.
Centrals Taylor Sanchez hit a 3 with seven seconds left in the half to give his team the lead back. Alex Lopez quickly answered for M-CHS. He took the inbounds pass, drove, then hit it from downtown with a second to go to knot the game 23-23 at halftime.
The Warriors kept battling and led 29-26 early in the third. A Haukeness layup gave the Panthers their first lead of the half at 30-29. Sanchez put Central back on top 31-30 the next trip down the floor. But Christian Chupp got on the scoreboard from downtown to give M-CHS a 33-31 lead it would not relinquish. The Panthers, though, had to hang on tight for the win.
M-CHS didnt lead by more than six points the remaining 10 minutes. With the score tied at 37, Rainer hit a crucial 3 at the third quarter buzzer, as the Panthers led 40-37 going into the fourth.
It was basically Rainer versus Sanchez in the final stanza. The two duked it out, trying to will their respective teams to victory. With M-CHS clinging to a 50-47 lead, Chupp stole Sanchez pass and was fouled. The Panthers point guard calmly hit the free throws to put M-CHS up 52-47 with 19 seconds left. The Panthers made their foul shots in the last seconds and held on for an important win.
We had a good run in the preseason. In the (conference) season, we started off slow and never really got going, Haukeness said. This is that win we got that I think will lead to more wins. We just need to practice intense and come ready to play.
Rainer led the Panthers with 18 points. Haukeness had a career high 15 and pulled down eight rebounds, including a critical offensive board late in the fourth.
It felt good, just helping to get that win that we really needed desperately, he said. Ive realized this is my last time playing basketball. Ive really tried to step it up.
Sanchez scored a game high 19 points for the Warriors.
M-CHS will play its final regular season road trip at Fruita Monument and Grand Junction on Friday and Saturday at 7 and 1:30 p.m.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.