Saturday marks the opening round of the state basketball tournament
It was a standout year for the local high school boys basketball teams, and the seedings reflect that as all four teams which are state-bound are on the top half of the draws.
That means that each of them will have a home game for Saturday’s opening round of the state tournament.
That gives each team a strong chance to advance to next week’s quarterfinals that will be played at The Pit in Albuquerque, as well as at the Rio Rancho Events Center and Bernalillo High School.
CLASS 4A
No. 3 Española Valley (22-6) vs. No. 14 Belen (12-15), 6 p.m.
Sundevils coach Joey Trujillo is not expecting an easy time against the Eagles.
“I think it’s going to be a tough game,” he said. “Belen has beaten some of the teams we’ve beaten. They’re no slouch. They’re disciplined. They shoot well. Play good defense. We’re going to have our hands full.”
But Belen will have its hands full trying to shut down Española’s Tres Grande of seniors Josiah Fresquez and Matthew Lovato and junior Jerek Duda.
“They’re our three main scorers as the season has gone on,” Trujillo said.
Despite their prowess on the offensive end, the Sundevils will only go as far as their defense takes them.
“We’re hard-nosed kids that just play really, really hard on defense,” Trujillo said. “We’re going to pressure you and make you earn everything you get. Then we’ll try to get into the offensive transition and push the ball and try and score. That’s us in a nutshell.”
Trujillo credits under-sized senior post Emillio Samaniego with being the foundation of the defense.
“He is our workhorse on defense,” he said of the 5’9” building block. “I think he has roughly 60 charges. He’s not afraid to get in and take a charge. I think he had six against Albuquerque Academy. He does a lot of sacrificing of his body for the team.”
Senior Nathaniel Suazo and junior Miguel Orosco join Samaniego as defensive stoppers.
“Those two guys give us a world of defense and help us on the boards,” Trujillo said. “We’ll mainly play man-to-man and a lot of times, we’re going to pick you up 94 feet. It all depends what the game flow is. Even in half court, we really put a lot of pressure on the ball. We try to anyway. What has helped us, the guys know their roles. If our guys stick to their roles, I think we’re going to be okay.”
No. 5 Pojoaque Valley (19-8) vs. No. 12 Taos (16-11), 6 p.m.
It is a veteran squad that Elks coach Ryan Cordova will drop on the court against the District 2-4A rival Tigers.
Pojoaque rolls with eight seniors — it would have been nine except an auto accident killed Nick Manzanares in September.
“It took a little bit to gather ourselves after that,” Cordova said. “But we started out strong before we lost by one to Capital. That showed we weren’t invincible. We’ve had good runs.”
As a matter of fact, before losing its last game in the 2-4A tournament semifinals to Taos, the Elks had won seven straight.
“They have a really good team, they’re well-coached,” Cordova said of the Tigers, who beat Pojoaque two out of three meetings so far, this season.
So now it’s a hungry team once more, one that’s especially looking forward to meeting Taos again, he said.
“I thought we were going to be able to tire them out,” he said of deciding to use a full-court press in the last meeting. “But they ended up getting buckets in transition and they never did get tired.”
Up-tempo is the way Pojoaque prefers to play, Cordova said.
“We love to play fast-paced basketball,” he said. “We like to push the ball and put pressure and we like to shoot the ball. We push you, we press you. We make you not see the ball. When you turn around, we’re going to race down the floor with you. That’s kind of our gig.”
Of those seniors, former Elks football player Luke Pacheco is the post who clogs the middle with a 6’2,” 215-pound frame that is all muscle. Fellow senior Andrew Martinez is a long and lanky 6’4” and is a solid interior sidekick.
Senior Mario Baros leads the team in scoring at 10.7 and chips in 3.2 steals, while junior Joziah Salazar adds 10.5 points. Seniors Jordan Lopez and Deondro Lopez have been reliable scorers.
Rounding out the seniors, Joshua Cordova takes a turn running the point with Matias Tiede, while Dion Luna and Carlos Varela man the wings.
CLASS 2A
No. 8 McCurdy (19-9) vs. No. 9 Jal (15-12), 3 p.m.
Having a home playoff game fits right into the Bobcats plans, said coach Ernesto Espinoza.
“That’s what we were working toward,” he said. “We were looking for that home game. We didn’t want to travel and we’ve had to travel the last couple of years, so that was our goal.”
This is a group that started its athletic careers as COVID was leaving its mark on sports, in particular sapping numbers, so many of the team’s five seniors took their lumps playing young.
“This group has been together the last four years,” Espinoza said. “I have four senior starters and another that comes off the bench and the other two guys are juniors. They have been working toward this the whole time since they were eighth graders and freshmen. They’ve grown up together and they know each other and they play for each other.”
Senior Ryan Montoya leads the way offensively, averaging 22.1 points.
“He’s a natural scorer and came out as the district player of the year,” Espinoza said. “He does a lot for us. When we need a bucket, he goes and gets it. When we need a stop on defense, he plays hard for it. He’s a true captain for us.”
Senior Judah Duran adds 10.5 points and senior Jeremaya Roybal grabs 7.5 rebounds and adds 8.5 points.
Junior Emelio Espinoza runs the point and hands out 3.3 assists, while senior Cruz Martinez does a lot of overlooked things that go into a successful team, like setting picks.
With the team maturing into veterans, Ernesto Espinoza said he’s slowed the tempo down this season.
“We’re a little more patient this year,” he said. “When we were younger, we’d get up and down after basketballs to hide our youth. But now we play a half-court game. We still get up and down the court, but we’re pretty balanced. We have good guard play, some height and size. I think we can match up with pretty much anybody.”
While the helter-skelter aspect to the game has been toned down, the Bobcats can still speed things up when needed.
“We don’t press as much as we used to in the past,” Ernesto Espinoza said. “But they can still get after it. They read the ball well. Most of the guys, they play well off of each other.”
No. 3 Mesa Vista (23-4) vs. No. 14 Menaul (14-15), 5 p.m.
The Trojans have already seen the Panthers, a January game Mesa Vista won 57-46 in Albuquerque, so coach Thomas Vigil has a pretty good idea of what to expect out of Menaul.
“We have a tough match-up,” he said. “They’re probably better than a 14 seed. They could be in the 10 area. They’ve got some good height, they’re really well disciplined and they’ve got some kids who know how to shoot the ball and really make plays.”
But the Trojans entered this season on a mission to avenge their semifinal loss last season to top-seeded and eventual champion Academy for Technology and The Classics.
“Last year was our first time being at the Star Center and the first time being at The Pit,” Vigil said. “Those are imposing kinds of venue for a Northern New Mexico kid. It makes us hungrier to get back there. We have that will within us at this point. I think that started from the moment we lost to ATC last year.”
Mesa Vista returns four starters off that squad and six of its top eight players.
At 6’4,” junior Jordan Gallegos has emerged as a prototypical power forward, powering down low for rebounds and put-back buckets, and splashing from the outside.
“He’s kind of our anchor,” Vigil said.
He’s backed inside by 5’11” senior post Salvador Saavedra, who is the team’s strongest most physical player, acting as a rebound gobbler.
Sophomore Andrew Valdez is the point guard who is “really pesky, shoots the ball well and is one of the quickest players I’ve ever coached,” Vigil said. “He’s tremendously athletic.”
Junior Santiago Martinez fills the other wing and is a defensive stopper, while junior Ezequiel Nevarez has earned a role as a starter.
“I think we play a variety of different ways,” Vigil said. “We’re chameleons. We can speed you up and win. We can slow down and win. We can win offensively and we can win defensively. We pride ourselves on the ability to win games multiple ways.”