Española center Ollie Fell loves to play with emotion. It can be seen even before the game, when he will often attempt dunks that would be suited for a dunk contest during warmups, and throughout any given night with the way he plays.
“Every single great team and great player has that competitive fire,” Española coach Gabe Martinez said. “You’ve seen it with Larry Bird, you’ve seen it with Michael Jordan. You’ve seen it with some of the greatest teams. All of it is just learning how to have an outlet. When things maybe don’t go your way, or things are going right, how do I channel that energy?”
Fell’s emotions, and those from the rest of the team, were seen in several moments both positive and negative in the Sundevils’ 59-38 win over Los Alamos on April 10 as he rebounded after missing the team’s last game.
“When the game happens, we just let our emotions go,” said Fell.
In the first quarter, he sparked the crowd and the team bench with a slam dunk on a breakaway. Minutes later, though, it also resulted in a missed dunk for what could have been an easy wide-open layup. And in the second quarter, Fell flexed over an opposing player after a layup, and was called for a technical foul for taunting.
“It hypes the whole team up,” Fell said of the dunk. “I’m trying to hype everyone up. When the team gets hyped, everyone else gets hyped.”
“We’re trying to really get Ollie, the most we can possibly can out of him,” Martinez said. “Him showing emotion, to me, is actually a great thing. But at the same time, learning how to channel it. Learning how to do it in a productive way.”
But overall, Fell’s 16 points led both teams and his play on both ends was instrumental in the Sundevil win.
“I saw a lot of guys playing for each other,” Martinez said. “We want to do this for each other. And I saw a lot of boys out there willing to do whatever it took to get the win. I was very proud of the boys.”
Española dominated the game from start to finish. Garrett May hit a 3-pointer on the team’s first possession, and the Sundevils raced out to a 10-0 lead. The defense was on lockdown, meanwhile, and Los Alamos did not score their first points until 35 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
“We always say, start to finish,” said Martinez. “When you can come out with the right mindset, focused, locked in, and have the ability to get into our game plan and what we want to execute early, it only makes it that much easier moving forward.”
That continued through the second quarter, though the Hilltoppers made shots in the last 10 seconds of both the first and second quarters, and Española took a 26-18 lead into halftime.
The second half went the same way; the Sundevils took a 6-0 run to start the half, and then stole the ball on three straight possessions. They soon stretched the lead to 20 and by the end of the quarter led 50-27. They were able to let up a bit at the end, but still came away with the easy victory with a 21-point margin.
Anthony Law scored nine points, and Ricky Padilla added 10 off the bench.
For Martinez, who missed the last game after a personal emergency, he was able to enjoy his first home game of the season.
“There’s no place like home,” he said. “That may be a little corny, but honestly, there’s no place like home. Playing in front of the crowd, the atmosphere, the support, it’s a great feeling.”
Earlier in the night, the Española C team took a 15-2 start to the game, and never looked back in a 58-42 win. In the junior varsity game, Española hit a go-ahead shot with 30 seconds left, then Los Alamos hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with two seconds remaining. But Española snuck out a 64-60 win in overtime.
After facing Taos Monday, the Sundevil season will continue on Wednesday (4/14) with a game against Moriarty, and then they travel to Pojoaque for a rivalry game Friday.
“We are 1-0 in district, and we have seven more district games to go, and we have a lot of unfinished business,” Martinez said. “But it’s a good start.”