Sports

Wingate Holiday Classic

LA snaps host Bears' home-court streak

By Alastair Lee Bitsoi
Navajo Times

FORT WINGATE, N.M., Dec. 22, 2011

Playing in the third-place game of the 10th Annual Wingate Holiday Classic was unfamiliar territory for the host Wingate Bears.

On Dec. 16, the Class 3A Bears (6-2) were dispatched to the third-place game after losing in the semifinals to eventual tournament winner Class 2A Laguna-Acoma, 76-41.

"I was simply outcoached," Wingate head coach Al Martinez said, following his team's drubbing by the Hawks. "Hang this one on the head coach. The kids had nothing to do with the loss."

Against Laguna-Acoma, Wingate had no answer to counter the defensive pressure of the Hawks.

Laguna-Acoma's 1-3-1 full-court pressure and man-to-man defense suffocated the Bears, who could not execute their offensive sets.

On the other end of the court, the Hawks easily breezed through Wingate's defenses for the Bears' second loss of the season.

"We played into their hands and let them play that motion, and it just ate us alive," Martinez said. "I didn't have our kids ready for that. Coach (Ryan) Piel did a good job slicing and dicing," Laguna-Acoma's victory snapped Wingate's 15-game home winning streak, which began with last year's 24-5 team. The loss also prevented Wingate from reaching their 10th tournament title game.

"Their defensive pressure put us out of our offense,' Martinez said. "They didn't allow us get to the spots we wanted to. We will pick up the pieces and keep going."

Against Rehoboth in the third-place game, the Bears held an 11-3 lead with 3:18 to play in the first period.

Wingate's Shawn Hosteen and Christopher Dawes capitalized off Lynx turnovers and combined for seven of those 11 points.

At the end of the first quarter, Wingate held a 19-8 advantage behind two back-to-back three-pointers by Dawes, who finished the night with 15 points.

Early in the second period, Rehoboth scored six-straight points to pull to 19-14.

Rehoboth's 6-0 rally, however, was answered by Wingate's 7-0 run. Wingate maintained a 29-16 cushion at the half behind the play of Hosteen, Randall Pine and Ricky Yazzie.

For the rest of the game, the Bears and Lynx played evenly, with Wingate building an 18-point lead, 36-18, midway through the third.

Wingate's biggest lead of the game dissipated when Rehoboth's Will Golden and Zach Serna each hit treys to shrink the deficit to 40-27 to end the third period.

Entering the fourth, Pine scored off a three-point play, and jumpers by both Kalem Begay and Dawes extended the Wingate lead to 47-31.

Rehoboth ended the quarter with an 8-0 run off free throws. At the end of regulation, Wingate posted a 49-39 victory.

Dawes led the Bears with 15 points and Pine added 13.

For Rehoboth, Mike Kempkes scored 11 and Will Golden had 8 points.

"We played well in the first half and went up 18," Martinez said, giving his team a B- performance against Reboboth. "We didn't sustain that performance in the second half."

In order to perform well in district and the postseason, Martinez said his team needs improved play by the guards.

"We are not taking care of the ball well enough," he said.

With a senior-dominated team, which includes Dawes at guard, Pine at center and Nicholas Desiderio at the point-guard position, Martinez said, he is expecting nothing less than a district title from the group.

"The expectations are always to win district and try to make into the top 10 rankings," Martinez said. "We got a figure out a way to get better so that we cannot have these kinds of nights. That is my job to figure that out."

"We are still picking up things and building with the newcomers," Desiderio said in an interview following the Reboboth game. "Last night's loss doesn't mean that we are bad or that we suck. It's still the beginning of the season"
"We got together before the game and we just came together and talked about letting go of the game against LA, and start rebuilding," added Dawes. "We still are coming along. It's just little things we need to work on. We will be a pretty tough team in the end."

Martinez said, "We wish we were playing better but this is where we need to be. I don't know that we could be 8-0 or 7-1. We are going to try to peak at the right moment. We are tying to get there by late January and early February."

As far as the competing in the tough District 1-3A race, Martinez said, "If we play like we are capable of I am going to favor Wingate because that is what we strive for, practice for, preach for - district champions."

Crownpoint

Coming into the Wingate Holiday Classic, the Crownpoint Eagles sported a 1-8 record. At the conclusion of the tournament, the Eagles improved to 3-9.

Posting a 2-1 record against district foes Wingate, Zuni and Thoreau determined where the Eagles stand in the pecking order of the District 1-3A race, if district play began today.

"We are better than them all and that's something I am trying to make the kids believe," said Crownpoint head coach Shawn Miller. "We are playing more consistently than before."

The Eagles captured the consolation title against the Thoreau Hawks, 66-63.

In the opening round, Crownpoint challenged host Wingate but fell, 59-49.

"We knew that game was going to be a battle, which it was," Miller said. "There were some mental break downs at the end."

Crownpoint's loss to the Bears sent them to the consolation bracket, where they defeated Zuni to set up their date with the Hawks.

Despite taking fifth-place honors, Miller said there are more important things for his "young bucks" to achieve this season.

"We are preparing for bigger things than a consolation trophy," Miller said. "We are preparing for the second half of our season."

After losing their entire roster to graduation last year, Miller said he is leaning on Jordan Jake, Justin Largo and Tyler McCray to lead the Eagles.

Largo, who was named to the all-tournament team, lead Crownpoint with 22 points. Jake finished with 20 points.

"We are a young team," Miller said. "Everybody is still growing and finding each other. We are going to improve on both defense and offense."

The Eagles are off until after the New Year when they meet up with the Tohatchi Cougars in a non-conference game.

"During that down time we are going to focus on the fundamentals," Miller said. "It's really up to them to be consistent and build positive habits. It looks to me like we are going in a positive direction."

In other tournament action, the Hot Springs Tigers defeated the Zuni Thunderbirds, 53-35, for seventh place.

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