The Joseph City Wildcats didn’t finish their regular season on a high note, losing all three games last week, but they are still headed to the post-season in both the sectional tournament and the Division IV state tournament.
Tuesday’s home game against highly ranked Snowflake didn’t go well, but it was an improvement over their previous meeting. The Wildcats fell by a final of 86-56.
“We played them earlier this year and were beaten handily, but we did much better this time around, despite the final score. In the first game we turned the ball over too many times, but we took much better care of the ball this time,” said Coach Eric Miller.
Jacob Fields played well, scoring 22 points to go with four assists and two steals. Wyatt Bain added 16 points, including four three-point shots.
On Thursday the Cats made the long journey to Eagar, where they struggled early, then played better in the second half, but still came up short losing to the Round Valley Elks 57-54.
The Cats trailed by eight at the break, but fought their way back into the game.
“We started off poorly on both sides of the ball and put ourselves into a hole. We missed a bunch of shots that really hurt our chances. The second half went much better, but we still came up a little short,” said the coach.
Fields again led in scoring with 25 points, and had four assists and three steals. Jaden Parra also played well with 8 points on four of five shooting, eight rebounds, three steals and one blocked shot. Austin Gardner came off the bench and gave the team some quality minutes with good hustle.
Senior Night on Friday saw the Cats drop another close game, losing to Valley 52-47. Seniors Wyatt Bain, Daniel Bushman, Dallas Elmer, Austin Gardner and Austin Lee all started and did a great job for Coach Miller.
“Those seniors held Valley to just four points over the first six minutes of the game. The crowd was incredibly loud and it was a great game,” concluded Coach Miller.
Fields led the way with 17 points. Bushman played an outstanding game with 12 points and nine boards. Elmer added 7 points with 10 rebounds. Parra had 12 rebounds and Wyatt Johnson helped with three steals.
The Wildcats wrapped up their regular season with a record of 10-15. They are the No. 4 seed in their section and were slated to face fifth seeded Mogollon on Tuesday afternoon in Flagstaff. If they win that game, they will face either top ranked El Capitan or eighth seeded Seligman tonight (Feb. 8) at Coconino High School, located at 2801 N. Izabel in Flagstaff. Regardless of how they do in their section tournament, they will still be in action in the Division IV state tournament, which gets underway next week.
