Shiprock-Piedra Vista Leftovers

The Chieftains made it six district wins in a row to dig themselves out of an 0-2 hole in 1-4A.

Some extra tidbits from the game:

* The gym reached capacity about three minutes prior to tipoff. The school announced, "If you leave the game, the chances are you won't get back in."

Piedra Vista's crowd got loud, especially early in the game, but Shiprock's fans were louder. Panthers fans seemed to compete with that energy for a while but couldn't do it late.

Chieftains fans thought their team had 51 points instead of 49. They were wrong, but someone in one of the sections must've been persuasive because they spent the period between quarters and the first few minutes of the fourth calling for the referee to add points to the scoreboard.

Nonetheless, they were a good crowd. Here's what assistant Chester Atcitty Jr. had to say:

"I was very pleased with them. I believe they maintained sportsmanship and stayed within the realm of basketball. I thank them very much for doing that and supporting the boys."

PV coach Brian Shock also enjoyed the packed Jerry A. Conner Fieldhouse, which prompted one PV volunteer to remark out loud, "Do you ever remember seeing it like this?"

"This is what we live for," he said. "Basketball fans. I came from small-school basketball. They'd shut the town down. It's personal. That's the kind of culture we¹re trying to build here. These guys have brought the fans in the stands this year."

* PV's Dominic Valdez finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Seven of his boards came in the second half, but Shiprock did a nice job containing him and keeping the ball out of his hands.

Atcitty attributed some of PV's performance to their week-long layoff since beating Aztec on the road.

"It was a team defensive effort tonight," he said. "Thank god (Valdez) was out of sync. Thank the basketball gods he was out of sync."

Valdez, a junior, is a lock for First Team All-District and may contend for Player of the Year.

Joey Murphy is the team's best scorer, though, and he finished with 19 points.

* Shiprock didn't get to warm up after halftime. Atcitty said the team barely touched the ball before PV inbounded.

It didn't seem to matter: The Chieftains shot 12-of-19 in the period and made 14 free throws.

* Shock heaped significant praise on his team after the game.

PV dropped to 2-2 at home in district play but has far exceeded expectations after returning one player (Valdez) with varsity experience.

"We may turn the ball over. We may miss some shots, but this team works as hard as any team I've ever coached. I thank them and commend them," he said.

* PV's Corey Blackwater set the tone in the first half with a hard body foul that sent Nick Begay to the floor with a thud and incited boos from Shiprock's fans. Begay missed both free throws, including an air ball on the first, after what would've been a layup.

Jacob Armijo, a freshman that entered the game in the final minutes, picked up an intentional foul for bumping Colby Nahkai. It looked like it could've gone against Blackwater.

Still, Shiprock appeared to be in foul trouble early. Four of its first six players had at least two fouls by halftime. Wesley Ben, Deion Benally and Jaron Shorty finished the game with four.

Shock lamented his team's inability to get to the line during the second half. Shiprock shot three times as many free throws during that span.

He said the Chieftains were physical, too.

"Whenever you go into a game like this, you know it¹s gonna be a hack fest. You shoot the ball, they hip check you. They just play very physical. You've got to be tough and you¹ve got to protect the ball."

* I asked Nahkai if he'd ever had a triple-double, and he didn't think so, though he's been trying.

He finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. His passes are safe and secure despite the fact that he sometimes looks away from his target and his laser touch passes are a product of good to great court awareness.

* Team stats (Shiprock is on the left):

Turnovers: SHS 21, PV 23
2-point FG: 16-28, 14-35
3-point FG: 7-16, 5-23
R: 26, 40
FT: 17-28, 13-19
A: 16, 12
F: 20, 22

See you at Bronco Arena tonight.

Stay true and keep pounding,
Christopher