Able to shake off the previous night's up-and-down second half in a victory at Norwood last Friday, the Ignacio boys returned to host Telluride the next evening and quickly assured their supporters that the decorated senior class of Anthony Manzanares, Wyatt Hayes, Austin McCaw, Tucker Ward, Nick Herrera and Chase Sanchez would be in no danger of dropping their final regular-season game inside IHS Gymnasium.
The Bobcats stormed out to a 22-4 lead through one quarter. Paced by eight Manzanares points against the once-hopeful Miners, the Bobcats could have coasted home after ramping their advantage up to 36-12 at halftime. But that wouldn't be IHS' style; whereas the previous night's 14 fourth-quarter points were essential in holding off the game Mavericks, Ignacio's 19 in the fourth versus THS was an ideal way to enter the postseason.
Manzanares, Sanchez and McCaw each scored one last bucket before the home crowd, as did freshman reserve Lawrence Valdez, while junior reserve Joaquin King buried two of his three three-pointers and sophomore reserve Kruz Pardo the last of his two (while also hitting two free throws, to boot) to cap a thorough 65-33 win on Saturday.
Sinking three treys himself, Andrew Denny was the only player in double figures for Telluride (8-11, 7-4 2A/1A San Juan Basin League) with his 13 points as THS wrapped up its regular season with a fifth consecutive road game, managing to go 2-3 during that stretch despite a disappointing 49-25 loss the night before at Dove Creek.
Teammate Zak Hild was close with eight, but the Miners were indeed minor in comparison to IHS (16-2, 11-0), which got 14 points from Manzanares, ten from Pardo, nine from both King and Ward, seven from Herrera, and a rare three-pointer-less six from Hayes as 10 out of an available 13 Bobcats scored at least two.
On Friday, the Bobcats came away with an 58-42 road triumph over Norwood. Norwood stayed proportionally close after falling behind 30-17 at intermission before falling by a final 58-42 margin. Ward led all players with 16 points, hitting two triples, and Hayes was right behind with 15 (making three).
Ignacio got 11 points from Manzanares and Pardo.
Up next for the Bobcats-ranked sixth in the last regular-season CHSAANow.com Class 2A poll (issued 2/15)-will be this weekend's 2A-District 3 Tournament. Action starts this evening at Montezuma-Cortez High School.
As the clear #1 seed in the bracket, Ignacio will play at around 5:30 p.m. tonight against #4 Ridgway (now 11-9 overall). Ridgway is the 59-20 winner of Tuesday night's play-in test at RHS versus 5-seed Dolores (4-15).
2-seed Telluride will then take on #3 Mancos (8-11) at roughly 8:30 p.m. Losers of the two encounters will then play for third place tomorrow morning at around 10:30 a.m., while the winners will battle for the event's championship at around 1:30 p.m.
STATISTICS, Feb. 19 -Ignacio 58, at Norwood 42:
IHS (11-19-14-14)-A.Manzanares 5 1-2 11, W.Hayes 6 0-0 15, A.McCaw 1 0-0 2, T.Ward 6 2-2 16, N.Herrera 0 1-2 1, K.Pardo 4 0-0 11, J.Valdez 0 0-0 0, J.King 0 0-0 0, C.McCaw 0 0-0 0, L.Valdez 0 0-0 0, C.Sanchez 0 0-0 0, K.Roubideaux 1 0-0 2, C.Levato 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 4-6 58. 3-POINTERS: Hayes 3, Pardo 3, Ward 2. FOULED OUT: None.
NHS (7-10-14-11)-H.Rushing 6 0-1 15, D.Rummel 0 2-2 2, E.Shaw 1 0-0 2, K.Brantingham 8 0-4 16, S.Hendrickson 1 0-0 3, B.Barkemeyer 1 0-2 2, H.Brier 0 0-0 0, S.Stropko 1 0-0 2, D.Dowden 0 0-0 0, C.Hughes 0 0-0 0, D.Snow 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 2-9 42. 3-POINTERS: Rushing 3, Hendrickson. FOULED OUT: None.
STATISTICS, Feb. 20 -Telluride 33, at Ignacio 65
THS (4-8-13-8)-Z.Hild 2 3-4 8, J.Pettinos 0 0-0 0, R.Livermore 1 0-2 2, A.Denny 4 2-2 13, J.Williams 1 0-0 2, D.Cantor 2 0-0 4, I.Enkema 0 0-0 0, S.Galbo 0 2-2 2, R.Cooney 1 0-0 2, K.Gass 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11 7-10 33. 3-POINTERS: Denny 3, Hild. FOULED OUT: None.
IHS (22-14-10-19)-A.Manzanares 6 2-3 14, W.Hayes 2 2-2 6, A.McCaw 2 0-0 4, T.Ward 4 0-0 9, N.Herrera 3 1-2 7, J.King 3 0-0 9, K.Pardo 3 2-2 10, L.Valdez 1 0-0 2, J.Valdez 1 0-0 2, C.Sanchez 1 0-0 2, K.Roubideaux 0 0-0 0, C.McCaw 0 0-0 0, C.Levato 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26 7-9 65. 3-POINTERS: Pardo 2, Ward, King 3. FOULED OUT: None.
