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Not 6, not 7. 8.

IHS boys again win district title

One Great 8 down, one to go.

The Ignacio High School boys basketball team made it eight consecutive district championships with a 59-39 win over Mancos in the Class 2A District 3 title game Saturday in Cortez.

IHS now needs two more wins to advance to a second consecutive state tournament Great 8 in Pueblo.

Junior point guard Wyatt Hayes did a little bit of everything for the Bobcats. He scored 26 points on five 3-pointers, made 10 steals, dished out five assists and grabbed four rebounds.

“He was just everywhere,” IHS head coach Chris Valdez said. “Unbelievable.”

Senior forward Adison Jones scored nine points to go along with 11 rebounds and six assists. It broke a streak of 16 consecutive double-digit scoring games for Jones.

Fellow starters Nick Herrera and Anthony Manzanares both had eight points, and Tucker Ward rounded out the starting five with six points.

“We just had a well-rounded game between everybody,” Valdez said. “They knew they had to win. Mancos is one of those teams that’s a little chippy. They like to talk to you on the floor. The guys really wanted to beat them.”

IHS (19-2, 12-0 San Juan League) led 9-3 after one quarter but built its lead from there.

“We didn’t finish that quarter well,” Valdez said.

The lead grew to 30-21 at the half and 47-28 at the start of the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t have a letdown in that last quarter,” Valdez said.

Now the Bobcats advance to the Class 2A Western Regional tournament in Grand Junction next week, where they’ll face the No. 5 seed from District 5, Hotchkiss.

Since District 3 is so small, it only qualifies three teams to the regional tournament compared to four for most other leagues, and five teams from the district it’s paired with qualify. All eight teams will be seeded into two four-team pools, and two wins get a team to Pueblo for the Great 8.

“It’s kind of like a little regional like we did last year (at Fort Lewis),” Valdez said. “That’s how every league is doing it.”

heraldsports@durangoherald.com



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