The Pojoaque Elks will have a target on their backs this season. The defending Class AAA state champions discovered this in their Nov. 22 season-opener when they eked out a 76-70 home win over the stubborn Mora Rangers.
Pojoaque coach Joey Trujillo said his team needs to realize that and not take their opponents, such as the Class AA Rangers, lightly.
“They need to understand that and I don’t think they do,” Trujillo said. “Mora outplayed us and they deserved to win the game. I think we thought that Mora would just hand it to us.”
The Elks lost five seniors, including leading scorer Ryan Gonzalez, to graduation. rujillo said the team lacks leadership.
“I’m disappointed with the effort,” Trujillo said. “The returning players did a good job in a supporting role last season. They need to step up and be leaders (this season).”
A couple of new starters did come through for the Elks, particularly 6-foot sophomore post Christian Baca, who led the Elks with 23 points.
“He’s a junior varsity player we moved up,” Trujillo said. “If not for Christian, we lose tonight.”
The Elks led 21-18 at the end of the first quarter against Mora, but the Rangers battled back and tied the score 28-28 with 3:27 left in the second quarter on a basket by Derek Pino. Mora trailed 32-31 at halftime.
The Rangers bombed from long distance to begin the third quarter and took a 37-36 lead after back-to back three pointers. A basket and a pair of free throws by Pino gave Mora a 49-46 lead.
Trujillo made a defensive adjustment that propelled Pojoaque back in front. The Elks changed from a defensive zone press to a man-to-man press and that keyed a 10-0 run that ended with Mike Perez draining three free throws after being fouled behind the arc. Perez finished the third quarter with four more free throws, finishing the game a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Pojoaque led 60-52 going into the fourth quarter.
“They were breaking our zone press and getting to many easy shots,” Trujillo said.
The Elks extended their lead to 10 points in the third quarter, but Mora kept chipping away at that lead. The Elks were clinging to a 67-65 lead and trying to take time off the clock when Mora’s Josh Olivas stole the ball from Pojoaque point guard Orlando Trujillo and drove in for a layup and drew a foul. The score was tied 67-67 with 1:49 left in the game. However, Olivas missed the free throw that could have given Mora the lead.
Moments later Baca drained two free throws to give Pojoaque the lead. Mora turned the ball over and the Elks’ Tom Nakotte converted the miscue into a layup that gave Pojoaque a 71-67 lead. Mora missed a pair of free throws and Orlando Trujillo drained a pair of charity tosses to put the Elks ahead by six points with one minute left in the game. Baca drained two more free throws with 5.4 seconds left to ice the victory.
Baca finished the game 9-of-10 from the free-throw line, and the Elks were 25-of-32 from the free-throw line for the game. Mora finished the game 24-of-34 from the charity stripe.
Pojoaque’s Orlando Trujillo and B. J. Roybal each scored 13 points, while Perez added 10.
Seniors Orlando Trujillo and 6-foot Ryan Sullivan are the only returning starters for the Elks. Junior Nakotte was a key three-point shooter for Pojoaque last season and will be looked at to provide outside scoring again this season.
Baca and Roybal, another 6-foot forward, are important players in the interior for Pojoaque, which doesn’t have a player over 6 foot.
“Those two were pretty good inside, “ coach Joey Trujillo said.
Despite his disappointment in his team’s play, Trujillo was glad to begin the season with a victory.
“I’ll take an ugly ‘W’,” he said. “We could have lost, but we found a way.”
The Elks host Grants Friday, and Trujillo returns top his high school alma mater Saturday when the Elks travel to Ojo Caliente to face Mesa Vista. Trujillo led the Trojans to the 1986 Class AA state championship as a player and was coach at Mesa Vista from 2000 to 2004 before taking over at Pojoaque.