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BAYFIELD \u2013 Jasen Engel couldn\u2019t be stopped in the paint and scored a game-high 26 points to propel the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers to a 62-51 victory Saturday against Ignacio High School at the Southwest Classic in Bayfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cJasen is so physical and strong he causes a lot of mismatches,\u201d Panthers head coach Michael Hall said. \u201cWhen he\u2019s on like that he\u2019s hard to stop, and when he gets the ball in the post like that he\u2019s aggressive to the basket and he\u2019s a good player down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday night, Montezuma-Cortez defeated longtime rival Durango High School in the first game of the 2018 Southwest Classic to earn a 68-46 victory at Bayfield High School.<\/p>\n
Friday night\u2019s grueling game against Bayfield affected the Bobcats, who started the game in a fog and struggled to find a rhythm on offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about how after a big game, win or lose, you put a lot of emotion into it, but if you think about it, if you want to win district and regionals you\u2019ve got to win two games in a row,\u201d Ignacio head coach Chris Valdez said. \u201cYou have to be able to play those back-to-backs. I don\u2019t care if we only have five or six legitimate varsity players, we\u2019ve got to play at that level or we\u2019re not going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Engel did most of the damage for the Panthers in the paint with 21 points in the first half to help the Panthers to a 37-26 halftime lead.<\/p>\n
The Bobcats cut the deficit to one point a couple of times in the third quarter but could never take the lead.<\/p>\n
Cordell Baer finished with 13 points for the Panthers.<\/p>\n
Johnny Valdez led Ignacio with 17 points, Lawrence Duffin-Valdez had 14 and Kai Roubideaux added 11.<\/p>\n
For only the second time in school history and the first time in 69 years, the Bayfield High School boys basketball team took down La Plata County rival Durango High School.<\/p>\n
The Wolverines (4-4) locked the Demons (2-8) down on defense and found openings for easy buckets to pick up a 63-33 victory during the Southwest Classic on Saturday at BHS<\/p>\n