The Wildcats split their two games played last week, picking up an easy home-court win over Ash Fork on Tuesday, then falling in an offensive showdown to Fort Thomas on Friday.
Tuesday’s game with the Spartans saw the Wildcats drain 32 first quarter points which morphed into a 53 to 10 halftime lead. They cruised to a 68-23 final decision.
Eli James led the way in scoring with 22 points. Coltran James added 9; Landon Miller, 8; Jaimen Tsosie, 8; Cort Miller, 8; Tatum Dixon, 6; Heston Miller, 4; and Jaxon Arnell added 3 in the win.
Friday night Joseph City, which entered the night ranked fourth, welcomed in top-ranked Fort Thomas. The Apaches built a 5-point advantage through the first quarter and that was the difference that resulted in the final outcome. Fort Thomas led 38-27 at the half, but the Wildcats trimmed 4 off that margin with a big third quarter in which the two teams combined for 54 points. In the fourth, the Wildcats couldn’t quite close the gap as they fell 86-81.
Eli James drained 24 points, and Cort Miller poured in 23 to lead the Wildcats. Landon Miller and Tsosie each added 8. Kase Fish had 6; Arnell, 3; Heston Miller, 3; and Coltran James finished with 3.
With the loss, the Wildcats saw their overall season record fall to 20-6. They are 13-5 in regular season games and should still be ranked in the top five in the 1A rankings on Tuesday.
This week they have just one final regular season game left. It is a rematch with Williams who defeated them 62-48 just two weeks ago. Following Tuesday’s game with the Vikings, the Wildcats will play in the 1A Central Region Tournament this weekend. The tourney is hosted by Williams.
Joseph City will be in the 1A State Tournament, which gets underway on Feb. 18, with higher-seeded teams hosting first-round games.
