On Saturday night, Jordan Gallegos got to play the hero.
In the closing seconds of a tie game, Marcos Martinez’s layup against a double team missed just short. Gallegos, helped by his long arms, was there to reach over for the rebound. He went back up, and found nothing but net with four seconds remaining.
“I honestly thought Marcos was going to make it,” Gallegos said. “It just landed in my hands. I work on that shot every day. I wasn’t thinking. And I shot it. It went in, I guess.”
Gallegos’ game winner led Mesa Vista (22-5) to a 56-54 victory at home in the District 5-2A championship game over Escalante (19-9). Mesa Vista likely secured a top-five seed in the state tournament.
On the final play, Santiago Martinez tipped a pass to Andres Valdez to seal the victory. After the win, Gallegos was named the district player of the year as a sophomore.
“You have to be a great player for the other team to game plan their entire scheme around you,” Mesa Vista Coach Thomas Vigil said of Gallegos. “And that’s what teams have done. He just puts his head down and grinds.”
The Mesa Vista gymnasium filled up incredibly quickly. People started lining up more than two hours before the 6 p.m. tipoff. An hour before the game, the parking lot was full. Hundreds of people stretched in a line across the elementary school and administration building waiting for the doors to open. (Luckily, it’s been a warm winter).
By 5:15, there was barely a seat to be found in the 1,000-seat gymnasium. A group of Escalante students entered about 10 minutes before tipoff. They spent most of the game standing in front of the visiting locker room.
Mesa Vista won the tip, and Salvador Saavedra immediately scored to start off what was a great night for the junior forward. Gallegos was held off the board for much of the night, but his fellow forward took over for 17 points.
“To start off, I was a little anxious,” Saavedra said. “But as soon as I started getting my feel around the basket … my confidence just went up. So I knew I could work with that.”
Escalante was down two key players in Jayden Salazar, who was out with an illness, and Adamacio Bustamante, who has a broken hand.
Escalante slowed the game down early, and had the game tied at 25 at halftime. But the Trojans picked up the pace in the second half, quickly scoring the first nine points. Late in the third quarter, they were up by 12.
But Escalante battled back with a big run. Damian Baeza hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with just over a minute left, spurring so much excitement from the Escalante bench and crowd that one of the earlier-mentioned students’ phones fell out of his pocket and onto the court while jumping for joy.
But their excitement was short-lived. Saavedra drew a foul at the other end, and put Mesa Vista on top with two good free throws. But on the other end, Luka Torrez took the ball to the lane and tied the game with a floater with 22 seconds left. Mesa Vista ran down the clock on their final chance, and then Gallegos gave them the win.
“This one hurts a little bit,” said Escalante coach Isaac Royston. “Well, actually, it hurts a lot. But I was proud of them.”
After the game, players from both teams hung out together on the court. Royston said that he coached against Vigil when he was a player at Mesa Vista.
At the end of last year, where they lost the district and in the first round of the state tournament, Mesa Vista lost four seniors who had formed the heart and soul of the team for years. And yet, they’ve heavily improved this year.
“I tell (the 2023 graduates) every time I see them that they’re the ones that really set the ball rolling,” Vigil said. “They showed the rest of my kids what hard work looked like. They showed the rest of them what determination looked like.”
Gallegos and the rest of the team have focused on strength and physicality.
“Last year, we were getting pushed around a lot,” Saavedra said. “And now, it’s a whole different game.”
Escalante expects to be around a No. 9 seed, which would have them travel likely to Pecos or Santa Rosa.
“Wherever we go, we go,” Royston said. “Hopefully everything turns out right, and we’ll be in Albuquerque with Mesa.”
The Trojans enter the state tournament having won 20 of their last 21 games. They should be around a No. 5 seed, giving them a home game in the first round, potentially against a district opponent.
“Every game from here on out is going to be very similar to that,” Vigil said. “Whoever wins the state championship, of the 16 teams that’s going to be in, they’re going to have to win some games like that.”
Saturday Scores
District 1-2A Boys Championship
No. 1 Rehoboth Christian 51, No. 2 Dulce 39
District 2-4A Boys Championship
No. 3 Los Alamos 57, No. 1 Taos 44
District 7-1A Girls Championship
No. 1 Jemez Valley 53, No. 2 Legacy Academy 17
District 7-1A Boys Championship
No. 1 Legacy Academy 54, No. 2 Evangel Christian / Oak Grove 46