Since playing perhaps their best basketball of the season Dec. 19 against the Los Alamos Hilltoppers in the semifinals of the Ben Lujan Invitational tournament, the Pojoaque Elks have been struggling and coach Joey Trujillo can’t figure out why.
The Elks led at halftime of the game against Los Alamos 36-26, but ended up losing 71-61 to the larger school. Grants, a team Pojoaque had previously beaten, handed the Elks a 58-46 loss Dec. 20 in Pojoaque’s next game.
After Pojoaque’s most recent reversal, an ugly 60-41 loss to Socorro Jan. 2 at Pojoaque, Trujillo is still searching for answers.
“That was the worst game we’ve played in the five years I’ve been here,” Trujillo said. “It was ugly.”
Ugly as in the Elks made only 5-of-24 from three-point range against Socorro.
“They were good looks too.” Trujillo said. “They were missing them badly.”
Ugly as in the Elks not scoring a point for over five minutes of the third quarter, while Socorro stretched its lead to 20 points heading into the fourth quarter.
Trujillo sat on the bench in frustration and pulled most of his starters. He allowed underclassmen to finish the game.
“If they aren’t going to play with any heart, we’ll go with the younger guys and build for the future.” Trujillo said.
The game didn’t start ugly, but then it wasn’t pretty either. Pojoaque led 5-4 in the first quarter when the Warriors took a 6-5 lead. The Elks were never in front again.
There was no hint of the problems to come. The Elks hit three three-pointers and trailed by just a point when Socorro’s Jared Marquez nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Socorro a 19-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
It was in the second quarter that Pojoaque showed signs of unraveling. The Elks had narrowed Socorro’s lead to just one point after a steal and layup by B. J. Roybal. However, the Elks scored just two more points the rest of the half and were losing 31-22 at the break.
After two free throws by Ryan Sullivan in the first minute of play, Pojoaque didn’t score again until 1:45 was left in the third quarter. Socorro reeled off 11 unanswered points to take a 20-point lead.
“We were trying to work the ball inside,” Trujillo said. “We were getting it inside but they were kicking it back out like they didn’t want to shoot.”
Socorro led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter before both teams went with their substitutes and Pojoaque finished with a 6-0 run.
Socorro’s Jorge Gonzalez led all scorers with 18 points. Baski Baker added 17 for the Warriors.
Senior Orlando Trujillo, Pojoaque’s only returning starter from last year’s Class AAA state championship team, led the Elks with 11 points.
“We’re looking to Orlando for leadership and he’s stepped up, but right now it’s Orlando versus the world,” Trujillo said. “I need somebody else to step up.”
Pojoaque will begin play in District 2AAA at home Jan. 21 with a game against Robertson. The Elks need to fix things before then if they hope to win many games in district play, Trujillo said.
“After the game, I told the team that we need to sit down and decide what’s missing,” Trujillo said. “What went wrong?”