For 10 seconds Friday night, Feb. 4, the Bears all but walked on air.
Wyatt Koskie had started second-half scoring with an innocuous two-pointer, but followed it with a two-handed breakaway dunk after visiting Ignacio lost possession. And with 4:44 left in the third quarter and Ignacio’s 31-25 halftime lead cut to 31-29, sophomore guard Mark Palate hit a go-ahead three-pointer from in front of his elated bench.
“Yeah, he’s a great help for us, honestly. Like, he can come in whenever we’re not hitting and hit a spot-up shot,” said senior guard Tru Seekins, whose three first-half treys helped prevent an Ignacio double-digit lead. “Definitely helps lift a little weight off our shoulders for sure.”
But for senior Ignacio guard Gabe Tucson, not so much.
Wasting little time, Tucson coldly canned a long two after Palate’s clutch make for a 33-32 lead with 4:34 to go. Bobcat sophomore Phillip Quintana hit one of two free throws, and Tucson swung momentum Ignacio’s way for good by converting a missed shot into a lay-in andnailing a pullup 14-footer to force Dolores head coach Joel Balderrama into a timeout with 2:08 left in the third.
Content to help defend against Koskie and even bigger senior Tyler Nowlin from receiving passes into the paint, IHS junior guard Eppie Quintana came out of the timeout with a late basket to increase the Bobcats’ lead to 40-32 going into the final quarter.
“I wasn’t doing my job I needed to do on offense. I had to make up for it on defense, and I think I did that all right,” he said. “They came out hot – out of half – and we needed to answer back. ... I just felt like I needed to step up.”
With Ignacio (9-4, 4-2 2A/1A San Juan Basin League, 2-2 2A SJBL) enjoying their largest lead since swelling a 12-10 first quarter lead to 17-10 early in the second, Dolores (5-7, 3-4, 2-3) steadied enough to play the ’Cats to a 9-9 draw the rest of the way, but ultimately fell 52-41 in the 2A-level SJBLers’ first of two encounters.
“Obviously we always want to win,” Seekins said. “We did a lot of good things tonight. We moved the ball well, but strayed away from it a little bit, and I think that’s partially … what took us out of the game.”
“Defensively we’ve really got to step our game up. Our help-side wasn’t as great as it could have been,” he said. “And turnovers; turnovers were a big part. Too bad we didn’t come out with the win, but we know what we’ve got to work on.”
With four 3-pointers, Seekins tallied 15 points – trailing only Tucson’s 19 for tops in the contest – while Koskie managed 10 points and Palate six. Sophomore reserve Jonathan Purkat chipped in seven but the 6-foot-6 Nowlin was held to three.
Eppie Quintana booked nine points for IHS, as did freshman reserve Charlie Pargin – all during the second quarter, with a three-pointer that put Ignacio up by a half-dozen at halftime. Phillip Quintana finished with seven points, and freshman reserve Coty Webb a key four points when Tucson and the elder Quintana were fighting first quarter struggles.
“I was really proud of how … Charlie just came in and he was making points,” said Eppie Quintana. “Coty was doing the same thing. Coach (Chris Valdez) said, ‘I need you to hit shots when you go in, not hold us down,’ and they both did really well.”
The Bears travel Feb. 19 to IHS Gymnasium for a rematch.
