Burnside, Arizona. – Despite the opportunities, the Tuba City boys basketball team continued at a frenetic pace in the 3A North Division game against Ganado.
Tuba City defeated the Hornets 58-55 on Saturday night, allowing the Warriors to maintain that tempo and stay in contention for the top seed in the conference race.
“That’s our goal every time,” Tuba City coach Robert Blackhat Jr. said. “We don’t have height, so we run. We don’t have any 6-foot players, so we told our players that with speed and shooting we can get there.”
“Obviously we needed this win because it was a regional game,” he added.
The three-point win moves Tuba City into a tie for second in the 3A North race with Shinle with both teams at 3-1. Page leads the region with a 5-0 record.
On Wednesday night, Tuba City hosted Shinle in an important regional game. The results of that contest were not available at the time the newspaper went to print. The teams are scheduled to play again Friday night at Shinle High School.
“We played against Page and lost by two points,” Black Hat said. “We led for most of the game and it was a good game. Paige has a good team and I like what coach Justin (Smith) is doing.
“He’s got a good program going there,” he added. “Right now, I’m not looking at the standings. I’m just focusing on one game at a time. I told my boys not to worry about the rankings, just focus on our play and be positive. I told him to focus and the results would come.”
Against Ganado, the Tuba City coach had all his forces at play, with all 13 players on the court and eight of them scoring.
“It all came down to work ethic and utilizing the bench,” Blackhat said. “Actually tonight, my starters came in as a second group, our second group was going to start and we did that in our last game against Hopi.
“My starters got a different view,” he added. “They watched the second group start and then we kept rotating. We always had fresh legs and kept pressing, pressing, pressing.”
Senior guard Tyler Tzinie led the Warriors with 13 points. Seven of those points came in the fourth quarter, when his classic 3-point play put the Warriors up 56-50 with 1:25 left.
“I wanted to get to the rim because I knew I was in bonus territory,” Tzinie said. “I wanted to make a spin move and pull (the defender) away from me. I came up strong and got fouled and it went in.”
The Warriors also got more than a dozen points from Kojan Saufky.
Ganado, who led 13-2 early, was paced by senior Kailen Todesin, who scored 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Senior Keon White added 13.
Ganado coach Corey Curtis praised Tuba City for giving it their all.
“I’m proud of their efforts,” Curtis said. “Win or lose, that’s what I’m looking for personally.”
As a first-year coach, Curtis hopes to rebuild a Ganado program that lost several key players from last year’s team, which went 10-16 overall. The Hornets are currently 2-14 and looking for their first win in the 3A North division.
“I’m grateful to be in this position,” said Curtis, who originally applied to be a JV coach.
“One of the biggest challenges this year is rebuilding the team,” he said. “This year, we will focus even more on their effort and work ethic. We believe that must be the basis of everything we do.
“We have to measure success in small steps,” Curtis added. “Our progress will be built on that effort, and I think the fact that we’re this close shows that we’re growing.”
