It was a tale of two halves for the Ignacio High School boys basketball team when it welcomed the Mancos Bluejays to town.
The Bobcats had a hard time containing the visitors, as Mancos kept up with the high-octane offense of Ignacio. At halftime, Ignacio held a four-point lead, but a 39-point second half gave the Bobcats all they needed for a 70-44 victory.
Ignacio (11-2, 6-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin League) let Mancos (5-9, 3-4) hang around early, but the Bobcats were able to keep their composure and come out and play Ignacio basketball.
“The first thing was that (Mancos) was hitting a lot of shots early and we missed three or four layups and then missed three or four wide open 3-point shots,” Ignacio head coach Chris Valdez said. “We usually knock them down early, and (the shots) rimmed in and out. There’s days where you’re not hitting everything and your defense has to hold on. But what I liked about our team is that nobody got after anybody, nobody was talking down, they held together and pushed forward in the second half.”
Both Tucker Ward and Wyatt Hayes finished with 14 points. Hayes also finished with six assists and six rebounds. Nicholas Herrera finished with eight points and four rebounds.
“This felt good because we knew this team couldn’t handle us even for as long as they, did so we were happy to come back out and do what we did,” said Ward, son of Deedee and Dug Ward.
Mancos had size down low with Ro Paschel as its main contributor to Ignacio’s tough night early on. Paschel finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Andrew Plunkett finished with eight points for the Bluejays.
Throughout the first half, Ignacio played to Mancos’ ability, which frustrated the Bobcats. Mancos’ play was erratic at times and there were four traveling calls against the Bluejays during one stretch of the first half.
Mancos outrebounded Ignacio 20-15, but the majority of those rebounds came in the first half when Ignacio had a hard time scoring. In the second half, Ignacio’s shots began to fall. Anthony Manzaneras finished with nine points – all of which were scored in the second half. Ignacio had 10 steals and caused 17 turnovers in all.
This is the second win in a row for Ignacio after beating Dolores 64-27. But after losing to Bayfield last week, Ignacio’s eyes were opened.
“There’s nothing wrong with losing,” Valdez said. “If you lose a game every once and awhile it’s not the end of the world. People may think it is, but that’s because they’re used to us winning those games. It builds character, and we’re going to learn from it. As long as we learn something from it, it was a good loss.”
Ignacio, ranked No. 7 in the latest Associated Press poll, has back-to-back home games next, which both start at 7 p.m. On Friday, the Bobcats will host Ridgway before facing Ouray on Saturday.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
