Brandon Sandoval had never beaten Escalante in high school. They had lost 21 straight meetings.
In fact, it had been seven years since the Trojans came away with a win against the Lobos. They had not won in Tierra Amarilla since 2011. Escalante had won 28 of the last 29 games between the two, only losing at the Northern Rio Grande Tournament in 2016.
But the Trojans (9-8, 2-0 in district) finally pulled through, led by a hot start and a strong shooting night, for a 61-55 win at Escalante (10-7, 1-1) on Jan. 21.
“It’s a big pickup for the team,” Sandoval said. “Everybody feels good.”
District 5-2A looks to be relatively even from top to bottom for boys basketball, with Escalante and Mesa Vista the top-ranked teams along with Mora (10-7, 2-0). But while this win seems important for the Trojans, they will not spend much time reveling.
“Every game in this district is an absolute war,” Mesa Vista coach Thomas Vigil said. “We don’t expect anything different moving forward. It just means right now, we’re 2-0. We’ve got to hold our home court, which is easier said than done.”
Mesa Vista came out swinging. Quickly they went up 9-0 in the first four minutes. By late in the first quarter, they were up by 15 points, led by nine from Jordan Cervantes, who hit another 3-pointer early in the second quarter to expand the lead further. At halftime, Mesa Vista was up by 17, and it was 19 early in the third quarter.
“It wasn’t necessarily anything that we did wrong, it was what Escalante did right,” Vigil said. “They came out with the right amount of energy, and they were playing well and shooting the ball well. They did not give up down 17.”
Suddenly, Escalante geared up, and scored 14 straight points to trail 46-42 in the fourth quarter. A few scores by Mesa Vista kept their lead intact, though it shrunk to two on a Greysen Horan 3-pointer with under three minutes left. Down by five, Escalante missed a 3-point look with 20 seconds left, effectively ending their hopes at completing the comeback.
“At the end, we started getting down in energy a bit,” Sandoval said. “As a team, we rallied and picked up the energy.”
Vigil said the team’s experience in close games won out in the end.
At halftime, an argument appeared to break out in the stands and some fans had to be separated, though it did not appear to escalante to physical action.
Cervantes’ 19 total points led Mesa Vista, including seven key points in the fourth quarter. Sandoval added 13 points and had many non-scoring contributions. Luka Torrez poured in 30 points for Escalante, including 15 in the third quarter alone, with five 3-point makes.
On Cervantes’ big night, Sandoval said, “It makes everything easier. Especially on the inside, because they’re going to come out on him, guard him on the outside.”
The loss broke a streak of eight wins in nine games for Escalante, with their only loss in that stretch coming against state favorite Pecos, losing by only seven. Their turnaround from a slow start has been surprising with a young team (just one senior starter) with little varsity experience.
Earlier in the afternoon, the junior varsity Lobo boys won a contested game 30-28, where Mesa Vista missed free throws in the final minute and missed a last-second shot.
Mesa Vista gets their own shot at Pecos (15-3) on Tuesday, then stays at home to play Questa (2-16, 0-2) on Thursday. Escalante plays a home game next against Peñasco (3-11, 0-2) on Thursday.
“It’s been a long time,” Sandoval said of beating Escalante. “A lot of work put into it. It’s nice to finally get here, but it’s just a start.”