The Wildcats had their 12-game win streak snapped on Friday night at Fort Thomas with a battle of top three ranked 1A teams. Fort Thomas is ranked No. 1, while the Cats were ranked in the third position prior to the game.
Playing on the road against a good team is always tough and the hometown Apaches took advantage of their home floor early. They outscored the Wildcats 17-10 in the first, and 19-10 in the second to hold a solid 36-20 lead at the break. In the third, Joseph City trimmed 3 off the lead, but that was about as close as they would get in the 66-51 road loss.
Jaimen Tsosie led the way with 14 points. Cort Miller added 11; Kase Fish, 10; Heston Miller, 6; Jaxon Arnell, 4; Eli James, 2; King Robinson, 2; and Coltan James added 2 in the loss.
Prior to Friday’s game the Wildcats took care of business in Ash Fork on Tuesday night with a 70-41 win over the Spartans. The Cats led by 12 after the first, and by 23 at the half. They extended that margin to 31 by the end of the third.
Eli James led the way with 19 points. Cort Miller, and Tsosie each added 14, Heston Miller helped with 8, Fish added 7, Trenton Deets added 6 and Anakin Hutchens finished with 2.
The Wildcats will play their final regular season game in Williams on Monday against the fifth -ranked Vikings. Following that they will host a second-round game in the 1A central region tournament on Thursday, with the opponent not yet determined. The finals of the region tournament will be held this weekend.
The 1A state tournament begins on Feb. 13, with the play-in games. The first round of the state tournament is on Feb. 17, at sites of the high seeds.
