TELLURIDE - Borrowing from the same book as their opponent at precisely the right moment, Ignacio's full-court pressure produced a baseline basket by junior forward Kai Roubideaux and, after consecutive steals, two layups by junior guard Kruz Pardo to conclusively separate from Telluride inside the MinerDome Tuesday night. The Bobcats won the league matchup 55-41.
"It was good; they're probably the best team in the league next to us," said IHS head coach Chris Valdez. "That 1-3-1 halfcourt trap, we didn't spend a lot of time figuring out how to break it so we struggled a bit. But I think we'll be a lot better next time."
"They were stopping our passing lanes and we couldn't get through," sophomore guard Calvin Levato agreed.
"We know what we're up against now," said Telluride senior Rye Livermore. "We hustled the second half, but it's a full game. And we have to play the full game."
Telluride wanted to win, and Miner senior Jackson Pettinos made the game-opening hoop. The Cats then moved ahead to construct a 15-6 lead. That was capped by a buzzer-beating Pardo three-pointer at the end of the first quarter.
Ignacio junior guard Cole McCaw then began the second quarter making a shot while fouled, and later stole at the end of the second quarter to preserve a 28-15 halftime advantage.
Buckets by sophomore guard Lawrence Duffin-Valdez, Roubideaux and junior guard Johnny Valdez then quickly increased the margin to 34-15 early in the third quarter - a situation that usually dooms Ignacio's league foes. Miner freshman Tommy Wells managed to book his first basket, and Livermore followed with the hosts' first trey, there was little worry noticeable on the Bobcats' faces.
Ignacio senior Joaquin King responded by sinking his third triple - and the Bobcats' fifth - of the game, but Telluride immediately drained one in reply. A Telluride hoop and two freethrows cut the deficit down to 37-27 with 1:41 left.
With strong defense, the Miners continued scrapping back to 37-32 after 24 regulation minutes, and almost even closer than that as Pettinos' three at the buzzer was slightly off-target.
The 'Cats almost made that a non-issue, threatening to kill the rally immediately with a Levato putback of a Pardo miss, a Pardo layup and a Duffin-Valdez breakaway finish. That rebuilt a 43-32 lead for the Bobcats. But single freethrows and another basket for Telluride trimmed it to 43-36.
But 43-39 would be as close as THS would approach as the Bobcats (4-3, 3-0 SJBL), helped by six of Levato's eight points off the bench, closed the game on a 12-2 run.
"Played my game," said Levato, a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line. "Did what I had to do for my team."
"They were aggressive, made some shots they had to down the stretch and we panicked a bit, got into some foul trouble that was just dumb, you know?" Valdez said. "We don't get seven of those fouls, they don't get 10 or 12 of those points and it's a 25-, 30-point game."
Pardo paced the 'Cats with 13, with King and Duffin-Valdez each netting nine in support. Valdez finished with six, McCaw and Roubideaux each chipped in four and sophomore Clay Seibel two. IHS finished 8-of-9 from the freethrow line, while Telluride was 8-13.
"I'm not disappointed in them coming back on us," Coach Chris Valdez stated. "There's things we've got to work on. We've got a long way to go before this team is seasoned, but they worked and played hard, and finished a game, which is good."
Ignacio played 2A Sargent (5-3) on Thursday night, with Norwood coming to town on Saturday evening, then the Bobcats travel to Mancos on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
