{"id":35548,"date":"2023-02-26T04:56:39","date_gmt":"2023-02-26T11:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-falls-in-district-play\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:25:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:25:31","slug":"montezuma-cortez-falls-in-district-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-falls-in-district-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez falls in district play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Isaak Lewis (30) fires a three-pointer over Ignacio's Ambrose Valdez (22) during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game Saturday morning, February 25, at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. Lewis made three treys and totaled a team-high 11 points, but the Panthers lost 49-37 to the Bobcats. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Looking for their first 3A regional appearance in the careers of any Panthers on the 2022-23 squad, head coach Mike Hall\u2019s team appeared to be in prime position entering their Intermountain District tournament at Centauri.<\/p>\n

Knowing that a win over the weekend against either Bayfield or Ignacio would certainly help their cause, the Panthers couldn\u2019t quite close out the Wolverines for the third time this season, falling in a 63-61 heartbreaker. The following day, Ignacio bested the Panthers, 49-37, in the consolation game, but for the Panthers, their regular season body of work was good enough to place them in the field of 32 for the 3A tournament.<\/p>\n

In their IML semifinal against Bayfield, M-CHS built a 17-8 lead early in the second quarter behind Bayfield\u2019s kryptonite \u2013 senior Austin Wood \u2013 who kept attacking the basket against the Wolverines. Bayfield responded with a 9-0 run, before the team\u2019s seesawed their way to a 28-26 Panther lead at halftime.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Elijah Lee (15) tries shooting over Ignacio's Charlie Pargin during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game Saturday morning, February 25, at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. Lee scored two points in the Panthers' 49-37 loss to the Bobcats. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"As
As Ignacio's Phillip (10) and Eppie (20) Quintana watch, Montezuma-Cortez sophomore Tay Wheat (4) finishes a fast break Saturday morning, February 25, during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game held at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. Wheat totaled seven points in M-CHS' 49-37 loss to IHS. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Defended
Defended at right by Ignacio's Gabe Cox, Montezuma-Cortez senior Gabe Crowley (21) leaps towards the basket during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game Saturday morning, February 25, at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. One of seven Panthers to score in the game, Crowley logged one point in the Panthers' 49-37 loss to the Bobcats. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The No. 2 seeded Wolverines came out the locker room white-hot, taking the lead back, and pressuring the Panthers into turnovers, taking a 42-36 lead after 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

Junior Miles Frost laid in a basket to cut the margin to four, but Bayfield senior Jackson Queen responded with a three.<\/p>\n

M-CHS pushed a 7-0 run to tie up the game on sophomore Tay Wheat\u2019s triple, setting the stage for another thrilling M-CHS-Bayfield finish.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Caiden Leonard escalated the drama with a deep three to restore the Panther lead at 50-49. An and-one from Frost made the lead 55-52, followed by a couple of tenacious defensive stops by the Panthers, putting the game in the hands of M-CHS at the free throw line.<\/p>\n

The lead crept up to four, 60-56, with 30 seconds left, before a helter-skelter sequence saw four straight turnovers, before Queen hit another three to cut the margin to one.<\/p>\n

After M-CHS made one of two free throws to make it 61-59, Queen hit the shot of the night with another three with four seconds left to give the Wolverines the lead.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez sophomore Kalea Ogo tip-toes along the baseline past a Crested Butte defender during the Lady Panthers' season-ending 45-19 loss in the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game Saturday morning, February 25, at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. In defeat, Ogo scored a team-high eight points. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez freshman Sariah Jackson (13) has her shot contested by Crested Butte's Molly Miller (10) during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game Saturday morning, February 25, at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. The Lady Panthers' season came to an end as the Lady Titans prevailed 45-19. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez freshman Sariah Jackson (13) has her shot contested by Crested Butte's Molly Miller (10) during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game Saturday morning, February 25, at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. The Lady Panthers' season came to an end as the Lady Titans prevailed 45-19. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez junior Markylla Jones (30) attempts to drive deeper into the paint against a Crested Butte defender Saturday morning, February 25, during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game held at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Twisting
Twisting away from Crested Butte's Ann Collins (24), Montezuma-Cortez junior Kayce Tom tries a scoop shot Saturday morning, February 25, during the 3A Intermountain League District Tournament's third-place game held at Centauri H.S. in La Jara. Tom scored three points in the Lady Panthers' season-ending 45-19 loss to the Lady Titans. (Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The following day in the IML consolation game, M-CHS struggled to get their feet back under them after the devastating blow from the night before. Ignacio pressured the Panthers into numerous turnovers, limiting the Panthers to 16 first half points, while the Bobcats took a fifteen-point lead to the locker room.<\/p>\n

The Panthers closed the margin to single digits for a brief period in the second half, but never truly threatened to erase the damage done in the first sixteen minutes.<\/p>\n

Senior Isaak Lewis led the way for the orange-and-black with 11 points, while Wood and Wheat each added seven for the cause.<\/p>\n

Centauri won the IML tournament, topping Ignacio in the semifinals before pulling away in the second half from Bayfield in the title game. The Falcons landed the No. 3 seed in the state tournament bracket.<\/p>\n

M-CHS advanced into the regional bracket for the first time since 2018-19, picking up the No. 31 seed, and will take on the No. 2 seed and regional host Salida Spartans (21-1) in their tournament opener. The other regional semifinal will pit No. 15 Bishop Machebeuf (15-6) against No. 18 Brush (12-9). Regional champions will head to the University of Denver for the state tournament the following weekend.<\/p>\n

Panther girls wrap up campaign in district play<\/div>\n

On the girls side, head coach Brad Wright and his Panthers (5-16) knew that they would likely need to win the district to extend their season another weekend \u2013 which meant trying to topple 3A No. 2 Centauri on their home floor.<\/p>\n

After holding off Bayfield in their pigtail contest to advance to meet the Falcons, M-CHS ran out of steam against the high-octane Centauri offense. The Falcons scored 24 first quarter points, quieting the energetic Panthers.<\/p>\n

Centauri cruised to a 69-18 win, placing the Panthers in the consolation game against Crested Butte on the following morning.<\/p>\n

After hanging tough with the No. 3 seeded Titans through the first half, down just 15-11, the Titans got the offense going in the third quarter to pull away to a 45-19 win. Senior Amiyah Ogo scored her final point as a Panther in the loss on a late free throw \u2013 the lone senior on a young M-CHS squad.<\/p>\n

The Centauri girls completed the IML sweep for the Falcons on their home floor, as they defeated Ignacio in the title game, 46-30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers boys and girls drop games to familiar foes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[600,28,36,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-basketball","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35548","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=35548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83013,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35548\/revisions\/83013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35548"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}