Facing overtime against Bernalillo, sophomore Joziah Salazar took over the game.
“I was scared, I thought we were going to lose,” Salazar said. “So, I just decided to take it by myself. I thought I caught fire.”
On the first possession, Salazar hit an acrobatic layup. Then he got the ball and scored ahead. The Elks scored 20 total points in that overtime. After being slow for the first 32 minutes, Pojoaque turned it up in the four added minutes.
The Pojoaque Elks (5-4) won once and lost two games at their home Ben Lujan Tournament, defeating Bernalillo (6-5) 74-63 in overtime, and losing 57-55 to Portales (7-0) and 56-51 to Santa Fe Indian (5-2). All three games were thrillers, and the Elks gained plenty of experience playing close and intense games.
“Each game, we’re improving in one area or another,” said first-year coach Ryan Cordova. “You don’t want to take two steps forward and one step back. It’s not the Texas Two-Step. You want to be able to take two steps forward, pause, take another two steps forward.”
With only six teams in the tournament, rather than a bracket, all boys teams played three pre-scheduled games. Portales was the tournament champion, winning all three of their matchups.
The Dec. 14 games were all postponed due to snow in the area and transportation issues, so all teams played a doubleheader on Friday.
“It’s tough playing twice in one day,” Cordova said. “But they do it all summer long.”
The Elks are aiming to improve this year after making the tournament last year for the first time in several years. As of Monday, they are ranked No. 9 in 4A, though they have to continue strong play in a tough district in Cordova’s first year.
“We all trust each other,” junior Deondro Lopez said.
Pojoaque started slow against Bernalillo, though they held a lead early despite a technical foul on Cordova. But Bernalillo took a lead with a 15-5 start to the second half, forcing the Elks to rally back. Down by two points in the closing seconds, Lopez hit a floater to tie the game and send it to overtime.
“I just felt like I could take my man,” Lopez said. “They stayed low, so I shot the shot.”
Ultimately, in that game, it was Pojoaque’s sophomores that made the difference. Salazar scored 18 points total, and center Serafin Mendez scored 26 and had nine rebounds. The pair combined for 17 of Pojoaque’s 20 overtime points. Both were named to the all-tournament team.
“For both of them to not think and just react, they did a very good job of doing that,” Cordova said.
Before that, Pojoaque played another close game with Portales. The Elks led 17-11 after the first quarter, and were up by two at halftime. The Elks tied the game late, but Portales scored on an inbound with five seconds left.
“We just played very lethargic during that game,” Cordova said.
Nick Manzanares led the team with 12 points in that game.
Pojoaque finished the weekend against Santa Fe Indian. They went down big early, but a big second quarter with strong shooting brought them back. In the second half, Pojoaque could tie the game, but would keep falling behind.
Salazar hit a layup with 76 seconds left to get the Elks within three points. But the Braves answered with a score on a putback. Pojoaque failed to answer, and fouled, ending their hopes of a comeback.
Cordova was excited to play at the Ben Lujan tournament, as Lujan, the former speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives, who he called a mentor to him.
The Elks face Miyamura (1-6) on Tuesday, and next play against Hot Springs (5-2) at home on Wednesday.
“Just take them one game at a time,” Cordova said. “Sometimes we want to look forward to the district tournament, we want to look, right now, to the state tournament. Right now, you’ve got to just take them one game at a time.”