Served a rotten third-quarter goose egg on Thursday, practically the difference in a hard-to-stomach 35-30 road loss at longtime 2A San Juan Basin League rival Mancos, Ignacio’s boys took a virtual sledgehammer to its memory Friday night inside IHS Gymnasium.
Leading 2A Sargent 10-2 through one quarter, but suddenly tied at 16 after another sluggish second stanza (IHS had scored just three points in the second at MHS), the Bobcats broke free from the Farmers by winning the third quarter 17-6 and rode that momentum to a 41-27 victory.
Junior center/forward Gabe Cox blew up for 10 third-quarter points and ended up totaling a game-high 14 as the ’Cats improved to 3-4 overall (0-0 3A/4A Intermountain) in their final outing before a lengthy holiday break.
Two of his third-quarter points came after he handed the ball innocently to a teammate well outside the top of the three-point arc, then stealthily curled around a backside screen – preventing two defenders, who collided, from pursuing – at the elbow toward an unguarded rim … then received said teammate’s lob pass for a morale-boosting, two-handed alley-oop dunk.
Senior Dylan McCaw, Cox’s low post-mate who managed a team-leading eight points against the Blue Jays while Cox finished with six, totaled nine against the Farmers.
Junior Devante Montoya recorded five points before fouling out. Senior guard Eppie Quintana – held without a field goal – went 4-of-5 from the free-throw line for his four points. Phillip Quintana and Trajan Garcia both knocked down three-pointers while Charlie Pargin also scored three to round out the team’s scoring.
SHS (2-3, 0-0 2A/3A Southern Peaks), meanwhile, failed to connect even once from long range in defeat. Sophomore Lucas Garcia tallied a team-leading seven points and senior Burke Temple six before he fouled out in the fourth quarter. Senior A.J. Garcia also booked six points, shooting 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Fernando Venzor recorded four, junior Corbyn Wright chipped in two and junior Trenton Paskett two via his five FT attempts.
Against Mancos (3-4, 0-0 2A/1A SJBL), Eppie Quintana fought for six points while Montoya (who fouled out) and Phillip Quintana each scored five. Freshman Darren Daves and junior Brian Veach each registered a game-high nine points for the Jays, and junior Andrew Jaime logged eight before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Sophomore post Kaiden Wyatt scrapped for four points before fouling out in the third.
