The Wildcats head towards their final week of the regular season on the heels of a 2-1 record in their three games last week. The Cats downed visiting Cibecue on Monday, pulling away with a strong fourth quarter to secure a 79-54 win. Both teams scored well in the first half, which ended with Joseph City trailing 32-31. Joseph City regained the lead by seven after the third. In the fourth, they came to life outscoring Cibecue 26-8 in the final eight minutes to get the win.
Eli James led the way in scoring with 16. Blake Palmer and Bryce Bushman each added 12; Bannon Johnstun, 11; Cort Miller, 10; Brent Bush, 5; Jareon Miller, 5; Bridger Fields, 4; Mees Koopman, 2; and Tristan Paddock added 2 in the win.
The following night the Wildcats traveled to Fort Thomas where they came up eight points short in a tough road loss. The long bus ride may have impacted their rough start as they were outscored 21-7 in the first quarter. They trailed by 19 at the half but rallied in the second half to make the game closer before falling 68-60.
Johnstun netted 17; Bushman, 13; Jareon Miller, 9; Bush, 8; Palmer, 6; James, 4; Cort Miller, 3; and Koopman added 2.
On Thursday night, the Wildcats returned to the win column with a 64-52 home-court win over Hayden. The Lobos led by six after the first, then by the half the teams were knotted at 22 apiece. In the third, Joseph City pulled away by 14 points which was a big enough cushion to secure the final 12-point win.
Bushman led the way with 21 points. Bush added 10, as did Jareon Miller. Palmer had 6; Fields, 6; James, 5; Johnstun, 4; and Koopman finished with 2.
Joseph City will have wrapped up the regular season this week when they host Williams on Monday and welcome in rival Mogollon on Tuesday night. They will play in the 1A East/Copper Boys Super Regional Tournament this weekend held at Fort Thomas.
Joseph City enters this week ranked 10th in power points. They will easily qualify for the 1A state tournament, which gets underway on Feb. 8, with first round games. Second-round games will be on Feb. 11.
The Wildcats entered this week with an overall record of 15-10. They are 11-5 in regular season games.
