Despite sophomore guard/forward Tristen Swagerty valiantly keeping Dolores alive early-scoring 15 of the team's 19 first-half points-the Bears' fate Tuesday night inside IHS Gymnasium had already been determined.
It took only 35 seconds for veteran head coach Larry Schwartz to figure that out.
In that first-quarter time frame, Bobcat junior guards Johnny Valdez and Kruz Pardo each came up with a steal and breakaway basket. And after DHS' boss burned his first timeout, Ignacio went right back to pressuring the visitors into a myriad of mistakes-allowing the 'Cats to resume fine-tuning their offensive sets, which produced a three-pointer by Valdez, two by sophomore reserve Clay Seibel, and ultimately a 23-7 lead after eight minutes.
By the time a Swagerty free throw at last got the guests into double digits on the scoreboard, IHS' advantage had swelled to 32-10-aided by a Cole McCaw trey and some slick interior ball-handling by junior forward/center Kai Roubideaux. The Bocats led 38-19 at intermission, 46-23 after three quarters and 61-31 after the full four.
Totaling three triples before halftime, Seibel finished with a team-high 13 points for the 10th-ranked Bobcats (2-0, 2-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin League). Valdez registered 11 points and also finished with six swipes, and Roubideaux also reached double figures with 10 points and also snared eight rebounds. Pardo finished with eight assists and five of Ignacio's reported 24 thefts caused by constant full- or half-court pressure.
The Bears dipped to 3-3, 1-1 with the loss.
Up next, IHS will play in this weekend's Montezuma-Cortez's Panther Invitational, starting at 5:30 p.m. tonight against 2A Grand County from Moab, with the Red Devils standing 3-1 overall but 10 days removed from a wild 66-60 overtime road win at nearby 1A Monticello, Utah.
The winner will play tomorrow at noon against either Basalt (4-1, 0-0 3A Western Slope) or M-CHS (2-2, 0-0 3A Intermountain), with the losers of each game squaring off at 10 a.m.
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