{"id":24507,"date":"2024-12-09T00:26:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T07:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marv-sanders-invitational-offers-glimpse-into-some-of-areas-best-prep-basketball-programs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:55:16","slug":"marv-sanders-invitational-offers-glimpse-into-some-of-areas-best-prep-basketball-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/marv-sanders-invitational-offers-glimpse-into-some-of-areas-best-prep-basketball-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Marv Sanders Invitational offers glimpse into some of area\u2019s best prep basketball programs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Aaliyah
Aaliyah Archuleta of Farmington High School puts up a shot while playing Durango High School on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at DHS. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 The 2024 Marv Sanders Invitational Tournament, which opens at Farmington High on Thursday, features some of the top boys and girls basketball teams across the region.<\/p>\n

The girls tournament will feature not only the Scorpions, winners of the Capital City Tournament at Santa Fe High School last weekend, but also Volcano Vista, which played in last season\u2019s Class 5A state championship game losing to Sandia by a score of 49-45.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very cool to have them here in the tournament, because it\u2019s a good measuring stick for both our teams,\u201d said Farmington girls basketball coach Tom Adair. \u201cWe\u2019ve played them in a couple great games the last couple years so it\u2019s exciting to have them come up here and be a part of this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volcano Vista, which has played in the Class 5A title game in each of the last five years, won the state championship in 2021 and 2022 and have been state runners-ups in 2024, 2023 and 2020. The Hakws are off to a 1-1 start to the current season.<\/p>\n

Senior Mila Espinoza, who averaged nearly 13 points per game last season, is expected to once again be a dominant factor for Volcano Vista. Espinoza scored 20 points in the Hawks season opener last week, a 56-50 win over Eldorado.<\/p>\n

Farmington, off to a 4-0 start to the season, are coming off a successful weekend in Santa Fe, capped off with a 63-34 blowout win over Santa Fe High School on Saturday in the Capital City Tournament championship game. The Scorpions will open the Sanders Tournament with a contest against Shiprock on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Scorpion Arena.<\/p>\n

\"Caris
Caris Dale of Farmington High School puts up a shot while playing Durango High School on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at DHS. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWhat really impressed me was the way these girls handled adversity,\u201d Adair said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some real smart girls with leadership and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading the Scorpions last weekend were juniors Kjani Anitielu and Caris Dale. Anitielu was named most valuable player in the Capital City Tournament, scoring a total of 37 points over the course of three games. Dale made the all-tournament team roster, scoring 16 points in Farmington\u2019s opening round win over Valencia before coming back to score seven points in their second round win over Cleveland and 14 in the championship victory over Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

Farmington is also represented by a number of key returners, including senior Aaliyah Archuleta and junior Chenoa Parrish, both of whom were named to the Capital City Invitational All-Tournament team.<\/p>\n

Shiprock reached the championship game of the Lady Chieftain Invitational last weekend at the Chieftain Pit before losing 41-31 to Navajo Prep. Coached by Robert Mccaskill, the Chieftains (2-2) appear to be a much improved team through the first week of the season than they were last season when they went 9-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see the confidence they have now, they\u2019re getting better with each practice and each game situation,\u201d McCaskill said. \u201cThe difference in these girls now is fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Marv Sanders Invitational Opening Round Schedule<\/h4>\n

Thursday<\/strong>Boys Tournament<\/em>11 a.m. Durango vs. Kirtland Central12:45 p.m. Maryvale, Ariz. vs. Monument Valley, Ariz.4:15 p.m. Canon City, Colo. vs. Shiprock7:45 p.m. Window Rock, Ariz. vs. FarmingtonGirls Basketball<\/em>11 a.m. Window Rock, Ariz. vs. Maryvale, Ariz.12:45 p.m. Volcano Vista vs. Durango, Colo.2:30 p.m. Aztec vs. Monument Valley, Ariz.6 p.m. Shiprock vs. Farmington<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The winner of Thursday\u2019s game between Farmington and Shiprock will face either Aztec or Monument Valley, Arizona. Aztec (3-1) won the consolation championship game of the Lady Chieftain Invitational on Saturday, beating Hozho Academy by a score of 48-26. The Mustangs (4-1) handed Navajo Prep its only loss of the season earlier this month when they topped the Eagles at home by a final of 59-34.<\/p>\n

Boys Basketball<\/div>\n

The Farmington High boys basketball team enter the Sanders Invitational off a heart-breaking, double overtime loss in Saturday\u2019s Capital City Invitational, losing to the host Santa Fe Demons by a score of 63-61.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a playoff game intensity and atmosphere,\u201d said Scorpions head coach Larry-Don Chitty. \u201cAnd both teams played at that level. There were so many huge shots and defensive possessions. We couldn\u2019t have asked for a better game to get us going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Scorpions (3-1) will begin tournament play Thursday at 7:45 p.m. at Scorpion Arena against Window Rock, Ariz. The Fighting Scouts come into the tournament with a record of 3-5 this season and are hoping to snap a three-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

Farmington got great contributions during the Capital City Tournament from seniors Michael Beck and Landon Begay, both of whom were named to the all-tournament team. Begay scored a team-high 19 points in Farmington\u2019s second round win over St. Michael\u2019s while Beck led the Scorpions with 15 points in the opening round win over Valencia.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington's
Farmington's Landon Begay jumps near the baseline and passes to a teammate in front of Monument Valley's Latrell Begay in the third quarter on Thursday, December 21, 2023 at Scorpion Arena. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Turkeyboy Photography)<\/span>Curtis Ray Benally<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Scorpions have been missing two of their top players in the first week of the season, with senior Alex Serrano participating in the Red vs. Green All-Star football game and junior Zander Griego nursing an injury. Farmington has gotten big efforts from stars like senior Samuel Goats and junior Sataurus Griego.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Goats) is starting to find a little rhythm and (Griego) has stepped up as a vocal leader and was solid as well,\u201d Chitty said.<\/p>\n

Begay and Sataurus Griego scored 16 points apiece in the championship game against Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

Being able to get back onto their home court will hopefully give the Scorpions a big advantage throughout this weekend. The winner of Thursday\u2019s opening round game will face either Canon City, Colo. or Shiprock in Friday\u2019s second round.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys feed off the energy of the home crowd, as we saw over the weekend at Santa Fe,\u201d Chitty said. \u201cHaving the boys and girls tournaments and our teams playing at home all weekend long is a big deal because our fans will get a chance to see some really good games.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side of the boys Scorpion Invitational bracket is an opening round clash between Kirtland Central and Durango, with a Thursday tipoff at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n

The Demons opened their season with a 62-47 win last week at home over Ignacio. They were led by senior Noah Miles\u2019 18 points as well as sophomore King Kerlin, who scored 12 points.<\/p>\n

Kirtland Central (2-2) opened their season with a home win over Thoreau, then went 1-2 in the Artesia Tournament, beating Deming by a score of 59-38 between losses against Artesia and Rio Rancho.<\/p>\n

Momument Valley. Ariz. enters the Scorpion Invitational with a record of 2-4. The Mustangs went 1-2 in last weekend\u2019s Antelope Canyon Holiday Classic, losing the consolation championship game to Montezuma-Cortez by a score of 56-50. The Mustangs will square off against Maryvale, Ariz. in a first round contest slated to tip off at 12:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

Maryvale is led by junior Adrian Stubbs, averaging more than 25 points and eight rebounds per game this season. The 5-foot, 10-inch point guard had a triple-double (30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals) in a 56-50 win over Skyline High last week.<\/p>\n

The tournament runs through Saturday, when the girls championship game is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. with the boys title game set to begin at 6 p.m., both at the Scorpion Arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

and girls teams from Colorado and Arizona are in tournament field<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1707,592,799,1708,28,679,2693,680,642,1815,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec-high-school","tag-durango-high-school","tag-farmington","tag-farmington-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-boys-basketball","tag-high-school-coaches","tag-high-school-girls-basketball","tag-high-school-sports","tag-kirtland-central-high-school","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78558,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24507\/revisions\/78558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24507"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}