The Pagosa Springs High School Pirate basketball team fell to Montezuma-Cortez while on the road Saturday, 62-36, logging their second defeat this season to the league’s No. 2 team.
“I thought we’d been playing really good in probably our five games before Cortez,” coach Wes Lewis said. “For whatever reason, we just didn’t play well that afternoon and Cortez played pretty well.”
Lewis added that the Pirates struggled with turnovers early against the Panthers as the team continues to fine-tune its form as the regular season approaches its final games.
“I think we’ve done a better job of executing our sets,” Lewis said. “I’d like to continue to improve on our shooting. We’re still focusing on that. I think our defense has been good — it wasn’t on Saturday afternoon — but it’s been improving.”
With the result, the fourth-ranked Pirates are now 4-5 in 3A/4A Intermountain League (IML) play with three conference games remaining on the schedule.
Those will follow Friday night’s home game versus the Sanford Mustangs, the top-ranked team in the 2A/3A Southern Peaks league.
“Year-in and year-out, they’re a very good basketball team, and it’s no different this year,” Lewis said of the Mustangs. “Our hands are completely full this weekend with Sanford.”
Friday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Pagosa Springs High School.
On Saturday, the Pirates will travel to La Jara to face the Centauri Falcons, who are still undefeated in the IML and who bested the Pirates 54-39 when the teams last battled Feb. 1.
The Falcons are the No. 6 team in the state’s 3A standings.
Saturday’s game is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Centauri High School.
Following the weekend play, Pagosa is scheduled to make-up a game versus the Alamosa Mean Moose that was originally scheduled for Valentine’s Day but postponed due to weather.
That contest is now scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at Alamosa High School.
The Pirates defeated the Mean Moose at their last encounter Jan. 24, prevailing 45-44 at home.
Assessing the road ahead, Lewis emphasized the importance of the Pirates moving beyond last weekend’s result and regaining the strides made in recent weeks.
“Hopefully we can just move on and forget about the Cortez game and look in the windshield and not the rearview mirror, and hope to get better each and every day,” Lewis said. “We’ve got to keep trying to improve with our shooting, with our defense, and taking care of the basketball to give ourselves a chance.”
garrett@pagosasun.com
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