The Wildcats put together a solid week last week on the hardwood. The team won three straight games with the closest being a 16-point margin.
The Cats opened the week on Tuesday with a 75-47 road win over Cibecue. Cibecue led by three after the first quarter but the Wildcats overtook them in the second holding a 34-32 halftime lead. The game turned in Joseph City’s favor in the third, where they outscored the Cibecue Wildcats by 20 points to put the game out of reach.
Bannon Johnstun led the way with 18 points and 11 boards. Eli James added 16; Kelten Chairez, 8; Blake Palmer, 8; Bridger Fields, 8; Bryce Bushman, 6; Mees Koopman, 4; Brent Bush, 3; Cort Miller, 2; and Landon Miller added 2.
Friday night the Wildcats cruised to a 78-33 home-court win over visiting Sequoia Charter. The Stallions were outclassed from the beginning and never were in the game. Joseph City jumped out to a 27-8 first-period lead and held the visitors to single digits in each period.
Fields led the team in scoring with 17 points. Johnstun added 13; Jareon Miller, 11; James, 8; Cort Miller, 7; Bush, 7; Palmer, 6; Chairez, 3; Koopman, Bushman and Johnson each netted 2 in the comfortable win.
Saturday night following another long road trip to Scottsdale the Wildcats were able to overcome a nine-point halftime deficit and poured in 52 second half points to win the game 79-63. Joseph City led by a single point heading into the final eight minutes of action but in the fourth, they outscored the Spartans 28-13 to get the win.
Four players scored in double figures including Bushman with 20; Johnstun, 17; Palmer, 12; and James, 10. Cort Miller and Jareon Miller each added 6; Bush, 5; Fields, 2; and Koopman chipped in with a single point.
With the three wins the Wildcats improved their overall record to 12-9 and they are now 8-4 in regular season games. They were ranked 12th in the 1A rankings prior to Friday’s and Saturday’s wins. This week they will host No. 14 Williams on Tuesday, No. 24 Superior on Thursday, then travel to No. 10 Fort Thomas for a matchup with the Apaches on Friday. Next Monday they host No. 20 Cibecue.
