A team of Bayfield and Ignacio eighth graders won the Four Corners Classic Basketball Tournament in Cortez on Jan. 10, going 6-0. Keeyon Prior, Turner Kennedy, Matt McSweeney, Hayden Farmer, David Hawkins, Kobe Ross, Keegan Owens, Clay Siebel, Landon Kennedy, and Zach McSweeney play on the travelling team.
They won their pool play, going 3-0, beating the Blanding 1, Cortez Storm, and the Moab 2 teams.
The T-birds went on to win their first two games in the winners' bracket, overwhelming the Blanding 2 and Montrose teams.
The championship game was against the Moab 1 team, also undefeated going into the championship game. Turner Kennedy started off the scoring with a put back off a rebound, and Hayden Farmer hit a short jump hook shortly after that. Moab 1 went on a run and was ahead 12-6 before a pair of freethrows by Farmer and a three-point play by David Hawkins cut the lead to 11-12. They traded baskets until Bayfield pulled away for a 10-point halftime lead, 34-24.
Moab 1 cut the lead to seven early in the second half before the Bayfield boys pulled away and won 70-39. Prior, Kennedy, McSweeney, Farmer and Hawkins were named All-Tourney.
The team also played three games on Dec. 27 in an Albuquerque tournament. The roster consisted of Farmer, Kennedy, Hawkins, McSweeney, Zack McSweeney, Calvin Levoto, Clay Siebel, and Marcus Flint.
Their first game was against the eighth-grade Junior Hawks Ontiveros club team. The Thunderbirds won 51-17. Farmer led the team in scoring with 19 points. Hawkins added 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Kennedy had six points, seven assists, four steals and two blocks.
The second game, the Thunderbirds went against the club team named the NM Hoosiers. The Thunderbirds started out strong, but fell behind in the first half by 27 points.
In the second half, the Thunderbirds picked up the intensity and cut the lead to nine points thanks to a three-point by Matt McSweeney, but couldn't get any closer than that and fell 59-45. Hawkins led the team with 14 points and six rebounds. Farmer added 12 points and four rebounds, and Kennedy chipped in seven points, five rebounds and three blocks.
The last game of the day was against the New Mexico Fuzion team. Three-pointers by Siebel and Kennedy and a turn-around jumper by Hawkins started the game off, and the Thunderbirds coasted to a 41-32 victory. Kennedy led the team in scoring with 14 points and had seven rebounds and three steals. Hawkins was next with 11 points, nine rebounds and a steal, and Farmer added 10 points, five rebounds and five assists. Clay Siebel finished with five points, four rebounds, and two steals and an assist, while Matt McSweeney finished the box score with 1 point, three rebounds and a steal.
The Thunderbirds will next play in the Martin Luther King tournament Jan. 16-19 in Salt Lake City.
