Monument Valley boys basketball looks to maintain momentum to close out 2025
by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The Monument Valley boys basketball team defeated Dugway 52-46 this past Saturday, December 13 for the second win of their season. The game was the Cougars’ second game at a tournament in Escalante.
In the first game of the tournament the Monument Valley boys suffered a 61-44 loss to the host Escalante Moquis.
The Cougars are 2-6 on the season with their other win coming against Tse’ Yi’ Gai at the Jerry Richardson Memorial Tournament in Shiprock, NM December 4. That was a convincing 58-17 win for Monument Valley.
Statistics are posted for four of the eight games the Cougars have played. In those games sophomore Jake Deswood is Monument Valley’s leading scorer with an average of 12.3 points per game.
Junior Tarkale Tsosie was averaging 7.3 points per game, senior Akcheta Shortman 7.0 points per game, sophomore Alexander Hicks 6.3, and sophomore Caleb Cly 4.3.
Deswood was leading the team with eight three point baskets. Tsosie had three and Hicks, Cly, and Shortman all had one apiece.
In the rebounding department Shortman was tops with 25 total. Hicks had pulled down 18. Senior Riley Stanley and Tsosie had 13 each, and Cly had tallied nine.
Deswood had six assists in the four games that are posted, while Cly, Shortman, and Hicks had three apiece.
Shortman had an impressive 19 steals, an average of 4.8 per game. Stanley had 12 steals while Cly and Hicks had nine apiece.
The Cougars blocked six shots in those four games. Shortman accounted for three of those, Tsosie two, and Deswood one.
The Monument Valley boys hosted Shiprock Northwest Tuesday, December 16 in a game that was played too late for the San Juan Record print deadline.
The Cougars will close out the 2025 portion of their schedule with a very busy weekend at the Wildcat Tournament in Chinle, AZ Friday and Saturday, December 19-20.
They’ll take on Red Mesa and Hopi on Friday, then Rough Rock and Many Farms on Saturday. All of those teams hail from Arizona.