“From here on out, there are no easy games,” Mesa Vista coach Thomas Vigil said.
Vigil’s sentiments are likely shared by every high school basketball coach whose team has advanced to the state basketball tournament. From now until the state championship games to be held March 13 to 14 at the Pit, there will be no opportunities to recover, no chances to bounce back and no time to regroup. Lose and that’s the end of your season.
It’s New Mexico’s version of March Madness.
The pressure may be the most intense in Mesa Vista’s Class AA, where only the district champions and the district runnerup go to the state tournament. There are no at-large teams, as there is in the higher Classes AAA-AAAAA. The teams are not seeded as they are in the higher classes, so the opening round matchups can sometimes place two of the top teams against each other.
This will be the case again in Class AA boys. The District 7AA champion Hagerman will host the defending state champion Texico Wolverines, District 6AA runnerup, in an opening round game Saturday. Either Hagerman (23-3) or Texico (25-3) will be eliminated in the opening round.
Coronado will get to host an opening roumd game in Class AA after its 71-68 defeat of Escalante in the District 2AA championship game Feb. 28 in Gallina. The Leopards had to hold off the Lobos in the fourth quarter after starting guards Patrick Cordova and Jessi Chavez fouled with six minutes to play and the Leopards leading by 14 points.
“Isaac Vasquez and Jose Chacon did a good job of giving us good minutes and making smart choices for us after Patrick and Jessi fouled out,” Coronado coach Ezau Rios said.
Junior post Pedro Valdez led the Leopards with 26 points and sophomore wing Johnny Martinez added 22 points for Coronado. The Leopards finished the regular season 15-11 and will host District 1AA runnerup Navajo Pine Saturday in Gallina in an opening round game.
It was Coronado’s third victory of the season over Escalante, who will travel to Gallup Saturday to take on District 1AA champion Rehoboth. Rehoboth finished the regular season 23-3 and its only losses came to Class AAA schools.
In girls Class AA action, the Coronado Lady Leopards were overwhelmed by Navajo Prep in the District 2AA championship game Feb. 27 in Farmington. The Lady Eagles, ranked first in Class AA, defeated Coronado 98-18 in a lopsided victory. The 17-6 Lady Eagles have not lost to a Class AA team all season and were Class AA state runnerup last season.
The Lady Leopards finished the regular season 16-11 and will travel to Navajo Pine to take on the District 1AA champion Lady Warriors.
The McCurdy Lady Bobcats had a chance to put away the Peñasco Lady Panthers Feb. 27 in the District 3AA championship game at McCurdy, but missed two free throws with less than a second left in the game and the score tied at 41-41. The Panthers came away with a 47-43 victory in overtime to win their fourth consecutive district title.
McCurdy had defeated Peñasco twice during the regular season, but behind 18 points by Alexandria Trujillo and 10 points by Maria Sam, the Panthers upset McCurdy.
McCurdy will travel to Mora Friday to take on the District 4AA champion Rangerettes. McCurdy finished the season 19-8, while the Rangerettes were 21-6 and undefeated in District 4AA.
In Class AAA boys action, the Pojoaque Elks beat Santa Fe Indian School 63-55 in the District 2AAA semifinals Feb. 25 at Pojoaque to advance to the championship game against long-time nemesis St. Michaels, who had won 13 consecutive games against the Elks.
The Horsemen made it 14 games with a typically close 46-41 victory over Pojoaque Feb. 27 in Santa Fe.
Pojoaque received the seventh seed in Class AAA and will host 10th-seeded Ruidoso in the opening round.