Lawrence Valdez made his return to the court one to remember, as the Ignacio High School junior drained a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the game to lift the Bobcats past Mancos 53-50 on Thursday night at Mancos High School.
“We had the ball with about 30 seconds and I called for one shot,” Ignacio head coach Chris Valdez said of the final play.
“We called timeout with about 18 seconds to go. I had my guys throw it into the backcourt to burn about 10 seconds ... and threw it over the top to Lawrence, who hit the shot with about three seconds to go. He was wide open.”
Lawrence Valdez had missed the previous few weeks after being rule academically ineligible.
The victory locked up the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League title for the Bobcats, their 10th league title in the past 11 years.
Lawrence Valdez’s return came at the best time for the Bobcats. The team has been without senior Kai Roubideaux for a couple of weeks while he recovers from a knee injury and was missing fellow senior Cole McCaw, who has been dealing with illness the last few days.
The Bobcats (13-4, 10-1 SJBL) fell behind early and were down a dozen points to the Blue Jays (13-5, 8-4 SJBL) in the first half before charging back.
Johnny Valdez led the Bobcats with 15 points, Lawrence Valdez finished with 14 points, Kruz Pardo added 10, Ocean Hunter chipped in seven points and Bryce Finn had four points.
Ignacio will close out the regular season at 3:30 p.m. Saturday when the team will host Ouray (9-9, 6-3 SJBL).
“The rumor is we’re going to get Kai back,” coach Valdez said. “If we can get Kai back and get him in there a little bit and get Cole back, it’ll be the first time we have our entire team together all season.”
Girls Basketball
Girls BasketballAfter a pair of losses outside of league play, the Ignacio High School girls basketball team got back on track in the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League with a 62-12 thumping of Mancos (3-14, 3-11 SJBL) that secured the regular season league title for the Bobcats on Thursday night at Mancos High School.
The Bobcats (16-2, 11-0 SJBL) played strong defense throughout the game, and in the second half a wave of energy from the crowd sparked the offense for eight made 3-pointers in the half.
“Some of the girls were really aware of the environment, and in the gym there was no electricity. It was kind of dull,” Bobcats head coach Trae Seibel said.
“The girls kind of struggled with that, but come the second half, the crowd picked up the energy and the girls were able to respond to it and get going.”
Ignacio wheeled out a balanced scoring attack. Senior captain Avionne Gomez led the team with 18 points, Jayden Brunson finished with 11, Charlize Valdez and Larissa Gallegos added 10 points apiece, Allisianna Baker-Marquez had nine points and Kiana Valdez rounded out the night with four points.
“Charlize, Jayden and Larissa, they pushed hard,” Seibel said. “That’s been my re-enforcement to them these last couple of weeks. With these two losses, I kept telling them to keep pushing hard in the offense and the ball will find them.”
The Bobcats will close out the regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday when they will host Ouray (10-8, 6-2 SJBL) at IHS.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
