The Montezuma-Cortez basketball teams were tested at home over the weekend, with both the boys and girls squads taking on ranked opponents.
The boys got their shot at Goliath on Friday night against the No. 5 ranked Alamosa Mean Moose (8-1, 2-0 Intermountain League).
Jasen Engel led M-CHS with nine first-quarter points, and Coby Baer and Daniel Fernandez added 3-pointers, but Alamosa led 21-17 after one.
And while Alamosa senior Ryan Brubacher owned the second quarter, scoring 11 of his team’s 13 points, the Panthers hung around and trailed just one at half, 34-33.
The third quarter included a Quanah Casey heat check, with the M-CHS senior knocking down two triples to put M-CHS on top 49-48 entering the final frame. But in the fourth, the Panthers fell in love with the three and missed too many free throws as Alamosa pulled away to win 75-63.
Engel led M-CHS with 18 points and Fernandez added 16, and Brubacher tallied 30 points for the visiting Mean Moose.
It was a tough loss for the Panthers – who hung right with the No. 5 team for 30 minutes before Alamosa pulled away in the final two – but M-CHS head coach Mike Hall was proud of his team’s effort.
“I told them, ‘You’re playing the team that was runner-up for the state championship last year and you guys played them to the end,’” Hall said. “It was (a moral victory), and I told them don’t you dare hang your heads down, you guys played like you’ve never played before. I was proud of them.”
The Panthers bounced back on Saturday with a win over Centauri.
M-CHS got excellent post play from starters Braden Keetch and Micah Hightower, as well as reserves Cordell Baer and Juan Arballo, to get good looks inside.
“We got the ball up high and Braden got a bunch of easy buckets,” said Hall. “And when Braden gets easy baskets, the team really gets going and they flow off of that and took off.”
Keetch also threw down two dunks in the contest to get the home crowd amped up.
First, he picked up a steal for a one-handed fastbreak hammer in the opening quarter. And then in the second, he broke free inside for a two-handed jam and M-CHS led 28-21 at the break.
The Panthers’ lead grew in the third quarter and they entered the fourth up by double digits. And although Centauri made a run in the final frame, M-CHS held on to win 50-46.
Engel and Keetch each scored 12 points in the win, while Hightower added 10.
After a 49-29 loss to Alamosa on Friday, the Lady Panthers got their shot at a ranked opponent on Saturday against the No. 5 Centauri Lady Falcons (10-1, 2-0 IML).
M-CHS was missing a couple players due to injury and eligibility, but the Lady Panthers got a boost from sophomore Aryelle Wright, who was eligible for her first varsity contest after sitting out due to transferring.
“She adds heart and the will to win,” M-CHS head coach John McHenry said of Wright. “I’ve seen her run track and I’ve seen her lay out and dive for the finish line. And on a personal note, I’ve been friends with her family and I just know what she can do. So when she brings that, it makes everybody else have to step up and rise to her level.”
Wright tallied four points in the first half, as Centauri led 17-9 at the break. But she started cooking in the second.
Wright scored all six of the Panthers’ third-quarter points and another seven in the final frame to account for 17 of M-CHS’ 31 points.
And although Centauri escaped with a 45-31 win, McHenry saw positives in the way his young squad competed against last year’s third-place finishing team.
“We went into the locker room and said, ‘This wasn’t a victory, but it’s a moral victory,’” he explained. “We’ve been blown out by this guy I don’t know how many times, so to come within under 15 points and have him kind of sweat it a little bit – absolutely (a moral victory).”
The M-CHS girls (1-9, 0-2 IML) and boys (4-6, 1-1 IML) are back in action on Friday hosting Monte Vista.
