Longhorns overtake Grady/San Jon

LOGAN - A key element in Logan's 63-60 district win Thursday over area rival Grady/San Jon was the Longhorns' star player was on the court in the final minutes of the game, and the Bronchos' star player wasn't.

Grady/San Jon power forward Chisum Rush, who tied for the team lead with 14 points and grabbed at least a dozen rebounds, was whistled for a technical foul - his fifth foul of the game overall - midway through the fourth quarter.

Bronchos coach Jonathan Langan said Rush had turned to a referee after a possession and said "C'mon, man" to earn the T.

"I personally don't feel like it was a warranted technical foul," Langan said, "but Chisum has to be smarter than that, especially with four fouls and we need him in there."

Logan coach Kyle Griffiths acknowledged Rush being gone was a key moment.

"That helped us, for sure," he said. "We got beat pretty bad on the boards, especially on the offensive side."

Logan guard Dante Sanchez, the Longhorns' top scorer this season, made both of the technical foul shots to tie the game 55-55 with 3:54 left. Sanchez finished with a game-high 27 points.

Later, with Logan nursing a three-point lead and 5.7 seconds left, Sanchez corralled a loose ball on the floor amid a Grady/San Jon turnover and turned turtle to protect it while Griffiths hurriedly took a timeout to keep possession and prevent a traveling call. The Bronchos got the ball back after a missed Logan free throw but had only enough time to throw up an off-target half-court shot at the buzzer.

"That was a big play because we needed a possession, and we had only one timeout left," Griffiths said of Sanchez's recovery of the loose ball.

Logan, which also got 13 points from Michael Sena, improved to 12-8 overall and 2-1 in Class 1A's District 6.

Grady/San Jon fell to 9-8, 2-2. Dustin Bryant tied for the team lead with 14 points.

Both teams played the game, which had 14 lead changes, at an often-frenetic pace. Neither squad held more than a five-point advantage.

After Sanchez buried both the technical foul shots, Logan went on an 8-3 run, punctuated by Sena's 3-pointer for a 63-58 lead with 1:12 left.

Isaiah Mitchell's driving bucket seconds later reduced Logan's lead to 63-60. Logan twice missed the front end of one-and-one free throws in the final minute, but the Bronchos failed to take advantage.

"I thought we handled our composure well without (Rush)," Langan said, "and we had a shot at the end. Him being out, it will hurt us. He was big on the boards for us."

Griffiths said his team worked on its defense before Thursday's game.

"We knew Grady was a good team, and we knew they had been playing pretty well," he said. "We worked all week on just playing hard and trying to figure out ways to get stops defensively.

"I'm proud of my guys for battling. That's one of the first close games we've won this year. Most of the close games, we've lost."

Fort Sumner 58, Logan 44

Fort Sumner iced its district game Saturday by outscoring Logan 20-11 in the final quarter during a 58-44 victory for the Foxes.

Griffiths said his Longhorns (12-9) struggled with its scoring.

"Offensively, things just never got going all night," he said. "Shots weren't falling, and we struggled to score."

Sanchez led Logan with 18 points. The Longhorns fell to 2-2 in Class 1A's District 6.

Fort Sumner improved to 12-10, 3-2.