<\/p>\n
While calling the Montezuma-Cortez High School boys basketball team\u2019s 82-70 victory Wednesday over Monte Vista \u2018The Titus Jackson Show\u2019 would be overstatement, it was impossible to overlook his standout game.<\/p>\n
Utilizing a combination of long-range shooting, deft drives to the basket and athletic finishes in the lane, Jackson scored a career-high 26 points, including 11 in the second quarter, and willed his team to victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I was getting hot, so I said to myself, \u2018Might as well keep going,\u2019\u201d Jackson said. \u201cI wanted to get the team fired up..\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Jackson\u2019s most impressive stretches came early in the second quarter, which the junior began with a driving layup. Jackson drilled two 3-point field goals moments later and converted two free throws to give the Panthers a 17-16 lead.<\/p>\n
In spite of Jackson\u2019s hot hand, Monte Vista kept the game close thanks to senior point-guard David Mascarenas, whose ability to penetrate the lane and set up teammates was on full display as M-CHS trailed 14-8 at the end of the first quarter and led 32-29 at halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just a good basketball player,\u201d said Jackson, who sometimes guarded Mascarenas. \u201cHe knows how to score, and he knows how to set up other people for easy buckets.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a seesaw start to third quarter that featured several ties and lead changes, the Panthers ended the quarter on a 13-2 run that gave them a 53-43 lead. Keying the run were five points from senior Michael Diaz and four points from junior Teagan Whiteskunk.<\/p>\n
Over the final eight minutes of the contest, M-CHS looked to another senior, Cordell Baer, and the big man delivered by scoring 13 of his 19 total points in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
As Baer tossed Monte Vista players aside while collecting offensive rebounds, Panthers\u2019 fans roared their approval. Monte Vista\u2019s coaches shook their heads in dismay.<\/p>\n
Although Monte Vista cut M-CHS\u2019 lead to 65-60 midway through the fourth quarter and later trailed 77-70 after a basket by senior Darrius Garcia, the Panthers made key free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis whole week of practice, we focused on finishing games the right way,\u201d Baer said. \u201cWe utilized five people on the floor at the end of the game. I just did my job. I want to get rebounds whenever I can, be physical, and use my strength and height to my advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
With its victory, M-CHS improved to 15-5 on the season. The Panthers will host Bayfield High School in the second round of the Intermountain League\u2019s district tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cBayfield knows how to win, they always have,\u201d said Baer. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to stop their guards from rebounding and shooting open threes. Hopefully we can come out with a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of weather conditions in the area, the game between M-CHS and Bayfield been rescheduled and will take place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. In the event that M-CHS defeats Bayfield, the Panthers will play at home against either Centauri or Alamosa in the District Championship on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jackson scores career-high 26 points in 82-70 victory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5770],"tags":[600,36,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-95526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school-sports","tag-basketball","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95526","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=95526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95526"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=95526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}