The Wildcats put together a solid week last week with three wins all by double figure margins. Joseph City began the week with a 59-40 home court win over St. Michael. A closely played first period ended with the Cats on top by just three. The second period was the determining time frame. The Wildcats outscored the Cardinals 13-2 to open a double-digit lead. The home team increased the margin by five in the third, then cruised to the 19-point win over the Cardinals.
Latrelle Kinlicheenie led the way in scoring with 16 points. Seth Hutchens added 15; Matt Fields, 13; Jacobson Begay, 6; Jay Edwards, 5; Talon Smith, 2; and Carlos Sanchez also helped with 2.
Friday night the Wildcats were again on their home court where they handed Ash Fork a 65-48 defeat. The first half was played close with the Wildcats leading by three at the break. Joseph City controlled the second half outscoring the Spartans by fourteen points to get the big win. Fields led in scoring with 18 and pulled down 14 boards. Latrelle Kinlicheenie added 13; Seth Hutchens, 10; Begay, 7; Rance Haddox, 7; Edwards, 6; and KJ Kinlicheenie added 4.
Joseph City hit the road on Saturday where they met up with the Phantoms from Grand Canyon High School. The long bus ride didn’t have much of an impact with the Wildcats holding a 14-6 lead after the first eight minutes. Joseph City held a five point lead through three periods, but in the fourth they found their stride outscoring the Phantoms by 12 to win the game 54-37.
Fields had another big game with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Begay did his part adding 14 points, which included four three-point bombs. Hutchens added 9; Sanchez, 6; KJ Kinlicheenie and Latrelle Kinlicheenie each had three, and Smith chipped in with a single point.
With the three wins the Wildcats improved to 8-3 on the season. After hosting Cibecue on Tuesday, Joseph City will be off until Dec. 28, when they play in the Coyote Basketball Invitational Tournament held at Arizona Lutheran Academy. Joseph City is slated to play Arizona College Prep, Wickenburg, Arizona Lutheran and Odyssey Institute in their four games leading into bracket play. The Wildcats will resume regular season action on Jan. 6 when they travel to Flagstaff to face Basis School.
