There was one thing that Española Valley fans couldn’t stop talking about after the Sundevils slaughtered Rio Rancho 112-79 Dec. 12 at the Joe Armijo Classic at Albuquerque Academy.
It wasn’t the eye-popping score, but a dunk by senior Luis Alvarado during the victory.
“We all got pretty excited,” Alvarado’s teammate Aaron Aragon said.
“It felt pretty good,” Alvarado said. “I heard everybody go all crazy when I did it.”
The dunk was the first during a regular season game for the 6-foot-2-inch senior. Not that Alvarado hasn’t shown he has the ability to get off the floor in the past. His block of a shot by Los Alamos’ 6-foot-11-inch Alex Kirk helped to preserve a 50-48 lead by the Sundevils in last season’s District 2AAAA championship game. Española would go on to win 56-49 for its third consecutive District 2AAAA title.
“I went up thinking I could get it,” Alvarado said after the game.
Alvarado can do more than dunk and block the occasional shot. He is the lone returning starter on this year’s Sundevils team and led the team with a season-high 25 points against Rio Rancho.
Española coach Richard Martinez has a lot more to say about the talents of Alvarado than the soft-spoken senior does. Alvarado is a young man of few words, while Martinez is profuse with his praise.
“Luis can do anything,” Martinez said. “He has a lot of attributes that make him special.”
One of those attributes has nothing to do with basketball. Alvarado is a professional weaver. He learned how to weave from his father Herlindo, who used to be a weaver at Ortega’s in Chimayó. Luis Alvarado has gone on to sell his work at Ortega’s.
“It’s pretty fun,” he said.
Alvarado also learned how to play basketball while growing up in Chimayó. Alvarado, who now lives in Alcalde, began playing with Aragon and other friends starting in the fourth grade.
“I just started hanging out and playing with them,” Alvarado said.
When he’s not playing basketball, he enjoys playing video games and hanging out with his friends and family. But basketball is what he does most of the time.
“It’s something you can do to keep out of trouble and gives me a reason to keep my grades up,” he said. “It’s just fun.”
One time when playing basketball was not fun was in the Class AAAA semifinals March 12 at the Pit. The Sundevils lost to Artesia 58-56 in triple overtime.
“I can’t even find the words to describe it,” he said. “I knew how hard we had worked for it. Little mistakes at the end and during the game cost us.”
Alvarado hopes this season ends with the Sundevils’ first ever state basketball title.
Alvarado, a lefty, is comfortable anywhere on the court, be it draining three-pointers from the perimeter or driving to the basket. He’s one of the Sundevils leading rebounders and his block on Kirk last season is just one example of his defensive ability.
“He brings so many dimensions he really opens the game up,” Martinez said. “He’s one kid I think could play at the collegiate level if someone will give him a chance.”
Alvarado said he has not been contacted by any colleges. He would like the chance to play somewhere in college, where he could study architecture or automotive engineering.
“It’d be cool to play college basketball,” he said.