Well aware of 3A/4A Intermountain League sleeper Monte Vista’s underrated capability, particularly when given the chance to stun a superior squad, Montezuma-Cortez head coach Michael Hall reminded his boys that welcoming a side from the San Luis Valley this weekend wouldn’t be any easier than prevailing Tuesday evening in the Pine River Valley against Ignacio.
Fortunately, in Ignacio, the Panthers didn’t find themselves ensnared by any situation in which they’d do anything desperate to escape with victory. After junior Trey Hall made an ice-breaking free throw with 6:12 left in the first quarter, Montezuma-Cortez never let the hosting Bobcats get any closer than 6-2, and ultimately left IHS Gymnasium with a 56-24 victory.
M-CHS improved to 21-0 overall and 10-0 in the IML with the win, while Ignacio dropped to 8-12 overall and 1-9 IML.
“Being smart with our shots, shooting our shots … helped us get this,” sophomore guard Royce Watts said. “Pushing the ball and keeping the tempo up. Trey had a couple of dunks and that helped our momentum, which made our scoring high, you know? The whole team contributed.”
M-CHS’ reserves combined for 19 points to IHS’ 0, with sophomore Brooks Story’s late catch of a pass from senior regular Trace Hartsoe and close-range conversion capping the contest’s scoring. Junior Kyler Wyatt booked all his eight points after halftime, and junior Kaleb Schmitt totaled seven – including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, sewing up the first frame and increasing the Panthers’ lead to 15-3 through eight minutes.
“We emphasize every day that when our bench comes in, the same intensity, the same scoring and the same defense has to stay – and those boys are good at it,” Hall said of his subs. “They’re good at coming off the bench and can just keep us going.”
Entering the week still ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, but without injured sophomore guard Ah-Dae Lang, Montezuma-Cortez began steadily squeezing its upper hand tighter during the second quarter, and went into halftime up 27-9 after Watts made a short-range pull-up transition jumper with barely three seconds left.
M-CHS started the third quarter with a 7-1 burst, and led 34-10 before Ignacio senior forward Trace Crane stepped out onto the deep left wing and, with 3:59 left, drilled Ignacio’s second, and last, 3-pointer. But when the Panthers caused a turnover, then got out and ran in open space, there was virtually no stopping them.
Especially high-flyer Trey Hall, who finished multiple fast breaks with two-handed jams (on, appropriately, NBA legend Michael Jordan’s birthday) – including one which inflated Montezuma-Cortez’s cushion to 42-17 at quarter’s end.
Crane converted a conventional 3-point ‘and-one’ play during the final frame, and the Bobcats also got a hard-earned hoop inside from senior Rance Rathjen plus an improvised backward scoop shot from senior Sonny Flores, but Trey Hall’s last two buckets helped curb any enthusiasm IHS’ few successes may have generated before skipper Hall emptied his bench once and for all.
Hall finished with a game-high 18 points, while Hartsoe ended up with eight points while also leading the defensive effort which limited IHS’ versatile Crane to 11.
“I thought the other night, when we played Pagosa (against whom Lang reportedly hyperextended a knee), we didn’t play very good, so tonight I was really pleased with how our defense looked,” Hall said. “We gave up some easy buckets when we probably shouldn’t have, but I think a lot of it was scrambling, some tipped balls and stuff …. So we were really emphasizing defense, and I was pleased.”
Ignacio will, if expected wintry weather permits, next host 4A Alamosa (8-13, 3-7 IML) on Friday for a 7 p.m. start on senior night, then conclude regular-season play by invading aforementioned Monte Vista the next afternoon at four.
