Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002 | 10:09 a.m.
Apparently, even a 10-day layoff is not enough to ground the high-flying Cheyenne Desert Shields.
Playing their first game since Dec. 29, the second-ranked Shields shook off some early rust to post a 69-60 road win over No. 10 Palo Verde Wednesday night.
"We came out real flat tonight -- both teams did after all the time off," Cheyenne coach Larry Johnson said. "We'll take the victory by all means, but we didn't play typical Cheyenne basketball."
Coming off a winter break that saw them finish second in the Holiday Prep Classic gold division and third at the Las Vegas Prep Championship, the Desert Shields (18-3, 2-0 Northwest) struggled to get into an offensive flow in their return to the court.
But Johnson's squad turned its defensive pressure up in the third quarter, creating easy scoring chances and building a double-digit lead.
Guard Keith Richardson led the charge, scoring 10 fastbreak points in a four-minute span to turn a 40-35 edge into a commanding 52-40 advantage late in the third. Most of Richardson's game-high 22 points came off turnovers, some of which he forced and converted into layups at the other end.
"In practice we work mostly on defense," Richardson said. "We got a little tired tonight, but we're more in shape than everybody else and our defense was still strong."
The Panthers (15-7, 0-2) made things interesting in the closing minutes, trimming a 13-point deficit to five with 24 seconds to play, but could get no closer.
Cheyenne's Johnny Wheeler matched Richardson with 22 points to go with eight rebounds. Eric Ashley also pulled down eight rebounds, with Chad Ferguson adding seven rebounds for the Shields.
Todd LaMasters led Palo Verde with 17 points, while Andy Gums chipped in eight points and nine rebounds.
Cheyenne will look to remain unbeaten in league play when it hosts Cimarron-Memorial Friday night. Palo Verde has a bye Friday and will try for its first division win next Wednesday at Mojave.
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