Alamo Navajo’s Mathis Apachito drew a pair of fouls on this layup attempt.
Russell Huffman | El Defensor Chieftain photos

The Cougars’ entire roster got into the action as Alamo Navajo ran away from Corona on Jan. 21 for a dominating 107-13 District 3 1A win.

Alamo coach Lemuel Guerro pumped the brakes early, but there was little he could do other than to ask his team to stop playing as he went to his bench midway through a 41-0 first quarter.

Alamo’s Tayshawn Pino finds a way to score.

The Cougars were red hot in the first quarter as eight players put up points and the starters did most of their damage in the stanza.

Scotty Guerro led the opening charge with nine points early, Mclane Guerro had eight, Mathis Apachito pumped in seven, and Jacob Apache started the free shooting with a trio and five points.

Within the first four minutes, it was apparent Guerro would have lots of time to work on different lineups and to get his bench players more experience.

“We tried to give them a game, but when you are ahead like we were, that’s hard to do,” Guerro said. “It’s hard to slow it down when telling the kids to play hard all the time.”

Backing off his defense into a primary zone didn’t help slow things down, as the Cougars still created turnovers and denied Corona second chances by collecting rebounds.

Mathis Apachito topped the second-quarter scoring with eight points, and Tayshawn Pino, Mike Monte, Wyatt Hunter, Jay Apachito and Zephaniah Guerro also got into the scorebook.

It was 71-1 heading into the third quarter, and Guerro gave his starters the traditional on-court minutes before quickly again offering his bench more work.

There’s some backdoor pressure on the Cougars this year because this is the squad Alamo fans have been watching through years of development.

The Cougar’s Mike Monte eludes being fouled as he gets off a shot against Corona.

The expectations are high for a school that has never won a district title in basketball.

“It’s very important (winning a title). We have to keep working. I know my goal, our goal, is we want to become a district champ,” Guerro said. “That will be the first time here at this school if we win it.”

Getting to 2-0 was big on Guerro’s list because the Cougars face a four-game road stretch before they return home against Hondo Valley on Feb. 11.

Adding to the aforementioned expectations is Alamo sporting the district’s best overall record at 15-4, while league co-leader Mountainair is 6-10.

Before tipping off against Corona, Guerro shared a little bit about his thought process.

“We need to worry about the things that we can control and take care of our business every time we get on the court,” Guerro said. We don’t worry about what the other team will do because we want to get out there and worry about us and what we can do.”

Scoring

Tayshawn Pino 15, Jacob Apache 9, Mathis Apachito 15, Mike Monte 20, Scotty Guerro 14, Wyatt Hunter 13, Jay Apachito 4, Zephaniah Guerro 4, Mclane Guerro 10, Isaiah Secatero 3.

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor