The Española Valley Sundevils advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class AAAA state basketball tournament with a 66-52 win over Valencia March 6 in Española. However, Sundevil coach Richard Martinez wasn’t happy with his team’s performance.
“I’m extremely happy we played this ugly game at home (not at the Pit),” Martinez said.
Española led throughout the game, but couldn’t shake the pesky Jaguars, who are just in their second year of competition and had no seniors on their roster.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my team for giving that effort out there,” Valencia coach Dominick Romero said.
Junior point guard Rodney Coles led the Sundevils with 22 points. He felt that Española didn’t play with the intensity that will be needed later in the state tournament.
“We came out thinking, ‘This is Valencia,’” Coles said. “Instead, we need to be thinking, ‘This is the state tournament.’”
Coles and senior Luis Alvarado came out firing in the first quarter. Alvarado buried a three-pointer, Coles followed with back-to-back treys and another Alvarado bomb gave the Sundevils an 18-3 lead. Martinez pulled his starters out of the game and inserted his second string. The Jaguars ran off nine unanswered points to cut Española’s lead to six points at the end of the first quarter.
“We might not be able to play some of those players next week,” Martinez said. “I’ll use my biggest guns to get the job done.”
Valencia made it 11 straight points at the beginning of the second quarter on a basket by Santiago Cordova. A three-pointer, a steal and a layup by Cordova had the Jaguars trailing by only two points.
“We weren’t playing good defense, rotating back,” Alvarado said. “We need to work on that because defense is going to win (the state championship.)”
A 9-1 run by the Sundevils gave Española a 30-20 lead. Valencia cut the lead to 30-23, but missed five free throws. A three-pointer at the buzzer by Alvarado gave the Sundevils a 35-23 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter Española extended its lead to 47-27 and led by 15 points heading into the fourth quarter. The Jaguars cut the lead to 10 points, but Coles went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line to hold off Valencia.
Coles finished 8-of-10 from the charity stripe, but the rest of the Sundevils were just 4-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Alvarado scored 20 points, and Gabe Rodriguez added 12 for Española. Noah Brown led Valencia with 16 points.
The Sundevils meet the Grants Pirates Wednesday (3/10) in the Pit. Grants beat Shiprock 65-56 March 6 at Shiprock. If Española beats the Pirates, it advances to a semifinal game Thursday (3/11) in Albuquerque.
This is the fourth consecutive year that the Sundevils have qualified for the state quarterfinals. The last two years they lost in the semifinals and three years ago they fell in the quarterfinals.
“I’m happy to be headed back to the Pit,” Martinez said. “This team can beat anybody if they set their minds to it.”