It is rare for Española and McCurdy to meet on the basketball court.
The last meeting for the cross-town schools in varsity basketball was in 2011 (with the Sundevils taking a 36-25 win.
But at a summer basketball camp in Santa Fe, the two schools saw each other for a scrimmage game. And the Sundevils won the unofficial game over the smaller charter school on June 16.
“It was just another game,” said McCurdy rising senior Lucas Martinez. “It felt good to get some practice against some bigger schools.”
McCurdy had 11 players available for their game, compared to seven for Española. The Sundevils were missing multiple starters who are also planning to play football this year, something that at times has been rare for the school.
Against McCurdy, Española led 23-16 at halftime. The games featured two 20-minute halves with a running clock, and teams at the camp played six games over two days.
McCurdy made the game close with an early second-half run, but Española’s strong shooting and speed took over the game, and they won 67-39.
Shortly after, the Sundevils faced Santa Fe High’s Gold team. They kept the game close against a strong 5A team, and trailed 22-19 at halftime, and ultimately lost 50-40.
The Sundevils are seeking to rebound from a disappointing 6-21 season, their worst in over 30 years. Though, after a 2-16 start, Española looked strong in district play, where they won their first three games and went 4-4. That bounce-back will have to come from a younger group after four starters graduated.
“We don’t even talk about last year,” Española coach Joey Trujillo said. “We’re just working on getting better.”
Española also competed over the weekend against defending state champion Albuquerque Academy, and in previous weeks in Santa Fe and Albuquerque have faced top large-school competition.
“They’re responding to it well,” Trujillo said. “Our only problem is not having all the kids here. We’re not getting a true test of where we’re at. But there’s some guys that are getting opportunities and they’re making the most of it.”
McCurdy Bobcats
As usual for McCurdy (and small schools like it), plenty of players are balancing summer workouts between football and basketball.
Among those is Martinez, who was a leading scorer for the Bobcats in basketball in 2022-23, as well as the football team’s quarterback.
“It’s hard for us to balance it out, sometimes we can’t make one or can’t make another,” he said. “Pretty much every day, football at 5:00 to 6:30, basketball to 8:30 or 9:00. So, busy afternoons.”
“These kids, I don’t know how they do it,” McCurdy coach Ernesto Espinoza said. “These poor kids are up early, a lot of them work during the day … they’re tough kids. And us as coaches, we might have to do a better job of trying to space out what we do. We all want to get the advantage in the summer with our teams, and we end up using the same kids a little bit too much.”
The Bobcats finished 2022-23 at 15-15, finishing strong after a 3-8 start to the season. They lost a 90-82 shootout against Mesa Vista in the district tournament semifinal, were awarded with a No. 16 seed in the state tournament, and lost to Pecos, the top seed and eventual state champions.
McCurdy loses three senior starters from that team, but does return plenty of production from leading scorers Martinez and rising junior Ryan Montoya, as well as a group of younger players ready to take on bigger roles.
“We’re still getting used to each other,” Martinez said. He added that they are still getting used to new offensive and defensive systems.
McCurdy also played over the weekend against strong teams from larger classifications including Capital, St. Pius X and Robertson.
“It’s a good chance to evaluate who can come in, maybe who might move up to a varsity spot,” Espinoza said. “Even if you don’t have everybody here, you still learn something out of it.”