Pojoaque Valley boys basketball’s leading scorer is a sophomore.
Their second-leading scorer? Also a sophomore.
Of his two young stars, forward Serafin Mendez and guard Joziah Salazar, Pojoaque coach Ryan Cordova said, “I don’t even look at them as grade levels. I know they’re sophomores, but they don’t play like sophomores. They’re maturing, they’re coming together, they’re very coachable.”
The pair are leading the Elks (9-8) as they enter district play as the favorites in District 2-4A as the only team above .500 or even close to it. Most recently, Pojoaque lost 66-48 to Capital (11-5) on Jan. 20 in a hard-fought game while Salazar missed the game with an injury.
The two have no issues leading on and off the court with a group that has played together for several years, they said. They see themselves as leaders in encouraging a work ethic to practice as much and as hard as possible.
“They’re both quiet leaders,” Cordova said, though he added that Mendez is a vocal defensive leader.
Salazar will do additional tests on his knee, but the team plans to have him for their district opener on Tuesday at Española Valley (6-12).
The two had praise for each other. Salazar said Mendez is great to pass to in the post or behind the arc to spread out the defense.
And Mendez said of Salazar, “He knows his mismatches. He knows when to drive and when to kick. He knows his catch-and-shoot game really well.”
Late in the home game against Capital, Pojoaque was also down team leader Dalian Lopez, who missed the second half, leaving them down without two of their three leading scorers. Jordan Lopez was also hobbled. Cordova hopes both are able to play on Tuesday.
Pojoaque scored the first four points of the game but then gave up seven straight, and played from behind the rest of the game. With too many turnovers in the first half, they were down by 20 at the break.
In the third quarter, the Elks started to storm back. They hit six 3-pointers in the quarter (and just one in the other three), with three coming from Jordan Lopez.
And Nick Manzanares hit a ridiculous buzzer beater in the third quarter. After an inbound under Capital’s basket with 0.4 seconds left, Manzanres caught the ball near the sideline around halfcourt and chucked it with one hand straight into the net.
Still, the Elks were down by 10 points entering the fourth. They scored four straight, and were within six, but then ran out of gas. From that point, Capital went on a 14-2 run, and won by 18. Cordova said he made a mistake in not rotating players enough in the third quarter, and the players on the court were too tired at the end.
“We had a great run, but we kind of tired ourselves out doing that,” Cordova said.
Pojoaque enters district play as the presumptive favorite given rankings, with Española potentially on the rise and Los Alamos in turmoil after firing their head coach on Jan. 17, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. Taos is also coming off a strong week.
“I don’t think there’s a number one team in our district,” Cordova said. “We’re all zero and zero right now.”
Española’s head coach, Joey Trujillo, was in the stands scouting the game. A longtime coach at Pojoaque, this time he was there wearing red.
“That was awkward to see,” Cordova said.