Raiders play for tourney title

by Leo Platero

The Whitehorse Raider basketball team took second place against the Monument Valley Mustangs of Kayenta, AZ at the Webb Toyota Basin Basketball Tournament. The championship final was a tough game, with the Raiders from Montezuma Creek falling by seven, 71-64.

There were five teams in the tournament from New Mexico (host Kirtland, Bloomfield, Shiprock, Crownpoint, and West Las Vegas, Ignacio from Colorado, Monument Valleyfrom Arizona and the Whitehorse Raiders from Utah.

Whitehorse clobbered Bloomfield Wildcats, 60-36, to open the tourney and faced Ignacio in the semi-finals.

It was a squeeker. The Raiders were behind with 25 seconds to go when Byron Grant put the Raiders ahead by two. On the next possession Ignacio hit a three pointer to take back the lead, 48-47. During a timeout, Raider Coach Chad Shumway designed a play for Trevor Martin. Martin took the pass and, with six seconds on the clock, hit a jumper to win by one point 49-48 and send the Raiders into the championship game.

Monument Valley defeated West Las Vegas and Shiprock to advance to the finals.

In the championship game, Whitehorse jumped to quick seven point lead behind the shooting of Grant, Martin and freshman Shawn Dickson.

The Mustangs adjusted their defense and started coming back. A three pointer at the buzzer gave them a halftime lead by one, 32-31.

“When Trevor Martin was called for his third foul in the second quarter, the Mustang made a run. Before that, Whitehorse was enjoying a 10 point lead in the first and second quarter,” reports Assistant Coach Matt Baldwin.

The Mustangs went on an 18-10 run to pull away from the Raiders until Whitehorse made a fourth quarter run at the third ranked 4A team in Arizona.

With two minutes to go, it was a two point game in and it went down to the wire.

“I feel better about the Monument Valley game than the two other games in the tournament,” said Coach Shumway, “We played an exciting up tempo game and we were playing on all cylinders.”

Lance Vigil played one of his best games by controlling the boards, blocking out, and scoring nine points. Grant led the Raiders with 22 points, including four three pointers, and Martin scored 13.

Monument Valley hit nine three point shots.

It doesn’t get any easier this week as the Raiders will compete in the 1A Preview Tournament against #3 Escalante on Friday at 7 p.m. and Wayne on Saturday at 5 p.m.