The Whiteface Antelopes, Morton Indians and Sundown Roughnecks basketball teams played a tiebreaker play-in tournament to determine the fourth and final playoff seed in 2A District 5 this past Thursday and Friday at Plains High School.
The teams were in a threeway tie at the conclusion of district play at 5-7, leading to the play-in tournament. Due to the odd number of teams, the teams flipped a coin to determine who got to receive a bye and only play once, which was the Antelopes.
Therefore, the Roughnecks and Indians battled first, resulting in Morton winning 66-51 to advance in the play-in tournament.
Morton came out burning hot, outscoring Sundown 43-24 in the first half. The Roughnecks would battle back, outscoring Morton 27-23 in the second half, but they could never really get back in the game.
The Indians win was powered by EJ Rivas with 27 points behind three threepointers made, Travion Holland with 12 points behind four three-pointers made, Britton Boggs with 11 points behind three three-pointers made, and Brayden Villarreal and Jaeden Alvarado both with eight points.
Scorers for the Roughnecks included Kye Powell with 13 points behind two three-pointers made, Josh Hogan with 10 points, Isaiah Igo with nine points behind three three-pointers made, Nathan McAdams and Brock Bufe both with six points, Athan Peralez with five points and Coen Nevarez with two points.
After the loss, Roughnecks Head Basketball Coach Kyle Igo reflected on his team’s elimination and season’s conclusion.
“I’m very proud of our kids; they battled and poured their hearts out. We ran into a hot Morton team, everything they threw up went in, they got some early momentum, and we had a tough time overcoming their early run,” Coach Igo said. “These young men had an awesome journey this season, learned so much and grew in a lot of areas. I love these guys, and even though it didn’t end how we wanted, we will continue to learn and let this refine us."
The Roughnecks conclude their season at 14-15 overall and 5-8 in district play, which puts them sixth in the final 2A District 5 standings. Following their first game, the Indians then faced the Antelopes in a playoff eliminator, resulting in Whiteface prevailing, 61-52.
The Antelopes led 26-21 at halftime before Morton would outscore them 23-9 in the third quarter to take a 44-35 lead into the fourth quarter. Whiteface would respond to that by outscoring Morton 26-8 in the fourth to ultimately secure the win.
“I am so proud of our guys,” Antelopes Head Basketball Coach Brandon Flores said. “I thought we played a solid first half. Morton came out and had a great third quarter and hit us with some adversity. I was really proud of our guys for staying calm and battling. When the going got tough they didn’t shy away. They stayed in there, took it head on and got the job done.”
The win was powered by double-digit scoring efforts from Isaak Soliz, Cesar Chavez, Jose Flores and Ivaniel Gandara. Soliz scored 18 points behind four three-pointers made, Chavez scored 15 points, Flores scored 11 points and Gandara scored 10 points behind 3/5 free throws made.
The win improves the Antelopes to 13-12 overall and 6-7 in district play, which fi nalizes them at fourth in the 2A District 5 standings and earns them a playoff bid.
They’ll face Iraan in the Bi-District Round early in the week at Sands High School. Iraan is 13-10 overall and finished runners-up in 2A District 6. Meanwhile on the Indians side of things, scorers included Britton Boggs with 15 points behind five three- pointers made, Travion Holland with 13 points behind three three-pointers made, EJ Rivas with 12 points, Jaeden Alvarado with six points, and Brayden Villarreal and Rafael Acevedo both with three points.
The loss concludes the Indians season at 11-18 overall and 6-8 in district play, which finalizes them at fifth in the 2A District 5 standings.