Española Valley’s Ray Romero lifted the Española Valley Sundevils sinking spirits March 12 when he hit a three-pointer to tie Artesia 41-41 at the end of regulation of the Class AAAA state tournament semifinal game.
The shot sent the game into overtime and the Española Valley fans into a frenzy at the Pit in Albuquerque.
But at the end of the third overtime, Romero lay on his back on the floor of the Pit over come with grief after Artesia’s Derek Montoya sank a five-foot shot with less than a second to play to give the Bulldogs a 58-56 victory. It was a heart-breaking end to the Sundevils’ season.
Montoya tallied 37 points for the Bulldogs. The winning basket came on an alley-oop inbounds pass from teammate Koby Caton after a questionable call had given the Bulldogs possession under the basket with one second left in the third overtime period.
Matt Brito led Española with 21 points. It was Española’s second straight defeat in the semifinals of the Class AAAA state tournament.
The full story of the game will be in the March 19 print edition of the SUN.