The 10th-seeded Ignacio High School boys basketball team arrived home Saturday knowing it had another long trip to make but uncertain when. Fresh off a Class 2A Sweet 16 upset of longtime nemesis Sanford, the Bobcats turned their focus to one of the best squads of the 2021 high school basketball season in Limon.
Ignacio loaded up Sunday night and made the 366-mile journey to face the No. 2 Limon Badgers on Monday night in the Great 8 round of the Colorado High School Activities Association Boys Basketball State Tournament.
A second-consecutive upset was never in the making for the visiting Bobcats (14-3), though.
Limon (15-1) opened the game on a 10-2 run, closed the first quarter with a 20-10 lead and built a 39-20 halftime advantage. Three consecutive made baskets in the third quarter by the Badgers sent a statement that a comeback wouldn’t be in the cards, either, as the Badgers claimed a 71-39 win to advance to the final four.
“That’s a good basketball team, and I’m hoping they win it all,” IHS head coach Chris Valdez said. “I love their coach and, just like Rhett Larsen over at Sanford, I respect him a lot and think he always does a good job no matter what kids he has.”
Limon will play No. 3 Peyton (13-1) in the semifinals Thursday. The other side of the bracket boasts No. 1 Wray (14-0) and No. 4 Yuma (8-3).
Big senior forward Alex Carr, who at 6-foot-6 was three inches taller than any Bobcat, led the game in scoring with 21 points for the Badgers. Senior guard Kory Tacha finished with 19 points, as he made five 3-pointers. John Jaklich and Camden Smithburg each had eight points.
“We knew that Ignacio was going to come out here and play hard, so our goal was to match their intensity and come out just as hard,” Tacha said. “The coach over there has them playing hard all the time, and we knew that coming into the game. Our main goal was to slow them down and for us to start fast on offense.”
Ignacio’s plan was to take away Smithburg’s outside shooting, but Tacha had the hot night despite coming in shooting below 30%.
“Kory’s been struggling almost all year. He hasn’t shot the ball real well, but the last couple weeks he’s shot it a lot better,” Limon head coach Dirk Pedersen said. “And Alex Carr’s probably the most improved kid on our team the last year. So, I thought we did a real good job just executing what we wanted; we got the shots we wanted. They don’t go down like that every game. I mean, we were fortunate tonight to make a lot of shots. The kids did a really good job tonight against a really good team.”
Ignacio senior Brady McCaw made three 3-pointers in the second half and four in the game to finish with a team-high 12 points. Also in his final game in a Bobcat uniform, Bryce Finn finished with 11 points and a pair of made 3s. Senior Dylan Labarthe added nine points. Junior Gabe Tucson, who starred with 25 points in the win at Sanford, finished with seven points.
Carr scored five points in a flash in the first quarter before Tacha buried back-to-back 3s to make it a 16-5 lead early for Limon. A strong two-handed dunk from Carr gave Limon a 33-13 lead with 4:44 to go in the second quarter.
McCaw hit a 3 from the right wing before halftime, and the Bobcats hoped to carry momentum into the third quarter behind the senior’s first basket of the night. But Limon opened the third with Tacha cleaning up his own miss with a rebound and putback layup. Off a Bobcats turnover, Limon then went inside to Carr for an easy basket. Then, Jaklich hit a nifty jump-hook past Finn to extend the lead to 45-20.
And after Tucson made a shot, Limon then mounted another 12-0 run with Tacha again hitting back-to-back 3s to end the run before Tucson’s bank 3-pointer ended the third quarter with Ignacio trailing 57-25.
“Our plan was to keep it close, within five or six points after the first quarter. Then, we’d have a chance,” Valdez said. “But there was no way we could do it. They were on fire, hitting all of their shots.
“In the second half, they didn’t miss a beat. We got a little shot, then they come down and knock down a 3. We come down and lose the ball, then they hit another 3. We wanted to get it from 19 down to 10 going to the fourth quarter, but they just kept pouring it on. They were too athletic and physical and a lot better team tonight.”
Valdez checked his starters out with 2:09 to play. It gave him a chance to say a thank you to a strong group of seniors – Jawadin Corona, Finn, Joe Garcia, Labarthe and McCaw – who led Ignacio on another brilliant playoff run that ended a little short of the championship game.
And it came in an initially postponed season in which teams regularly had to deal with COVID-19 issues with players on the court wearing masks and a much shortened schedule.
“I enjoyed every moment of it,” Valdez said. “Even getting our butt kicked tonight, it is what it is. Our kids overachieved once again, and that’s what you’re looking for – doing more than what you’re originally thought capable of.
“We beat Mancos twice, and they’re probably still ranked higher than us. Getting that one against Sanford, nobody thought we could do that. Limon, they’ve only lost to Wray all year and have a great chance to win it all. It’s nothing against our kids, they worked their tails off.”
Joel Priest contributed to this report.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
