Joseph City picked up two more regular season wins heading into their holiday break with victories over Cibecue and Hopi last week.
Playing at home vs the Dishchii’bikoh Wildcats on Monday last week the homecourt Wildcats found themselves trailing by 3 after a high scoring first eight minutes of action in which the two teams combined for 39 total points.
Joseph City nearly matched that total by themselves in an offensive explosion in the second quarter where they scorched the nets for 35 points to hold a 53-34 halftime cushion.
Both teams cooled a little in the second half, but the Wildcats eventually won the game 87-70.
Eli James was on fire, netting 33 points on 13 of 17 shooting. Cort Miller added a double, double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Trenton Deets added 8; Anakin Hutchens, 6; Jaimen Tsosie, 6; Coltran James, 4; Kase Fish, Jaxon Arnell, Heston Miller, King Robinson and Tatum Dixon each helped with 2 points.
Hosting Hopi the following night the Wildcats picked up where they left off on the offensive end the night before, draining 41 points in the first half to hold a 41-14 lead over the overmatched Bruins.
The Cats backed off their scoring in the second half, where Hopi outscored them 24-19, but the final outcome was never in doubt with Joseph City comfortably winning the game 60-38.
James again led in scoring with 18 points. Cort Miller added 9; Tsosie, 6; James, 5; Deets, 4; Fish, 4; Hutchens, 3; Heston Miller, 3; Robinson, 3; William Grant, 3; and Arnell helped with 2.
The Wildcats enter the holiday break with an overall record of 9-6. They are 4-2 in regular season games. Following the break they will host Ash Fork on Jan. 2, and Camp Verde on Jan. 5. On Jan. 6th they play at Sedona, then on Jan. 7, they will host Sanders.
