Prior to this season, the last time the Española Valley High School boys basketball team found themselves at .500 was in 2015 when that year’s team sat at 2-2 after a loss to Colorado’s Pueblo West High School.
Fast forward a little over three years later and this year’s team finds itself evened up in the win-loss column for the second time, now at 5-5.
The Sundevils traveled to their third tournament in three weeks and dropped two out of three games at the Cleveland High School Storm Tournament Dec. 13-15 held at Cleveland.
Española opened play with a 78-67 win over Bernalillo High School Dec. 13, then dropped back-to back contests to Sandia High School in the semifinals (73-54) and to Roswell in the third place game (94-87). Española led by as many as 17 points in the first half over the Coyotes, who are Class 5A’s No. 6 ranked team, according to the MaxPreps state rankings.
Roswell trailed 75-65 entering the final quarter and went on to outscore Española 29-12.
The Coyotes made their move trailing by three, as Miguel Baray made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 83 with 2:16 remaining. That sequence was followed by a Zach Mascareñas turnover in the backcourt, which Roswell’s Nate Dutchover turned into two points the other way to give the Coyotes their first lead of the quarter at 85-83 with 2:16 remaining.
Despite a four-point play effort by Mascareñas to tie the game at 87 with 1:18 remaining, Roswell converted their free throws the rest of the way and ended the game on a 7-0 run.
“We needed more help in the backcourt,” Española head coach James Branch said. “You can’t blame it on any one person because it is a team game. We need to work on our execution late in ball games and finish ball games. I’ll take some blame for that. Obviously, I can’t play the game as a coach, but it’s just gonna take some time.”
Brian Martinez led the Sundevils with 27 points off 7-of-11 shooting from beyond the arch and earned all-tournament honors. He also snagged eight rebounds and recorded three assists. Justino Rascon had a double-double effort with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jasia Reese led Roswell with 22 points, including nine in the fourth quarter.
Mascareñas came out hot by scoring Española’s first 10 points of the game and finished with 23 overall and scored 15 in the first half. He was guided to the locker room by assistant coach Brian Martinez after receiving a technical foul during the final minute after a brief shoving match and apparent poke to the eye of a Roswell player.
Branch said there was no “correct answer at this time” to address the incident and Mascareñas’ status moving forward.
Branch did say he was satisfied with his team’s effort following the loss the day prior to Sandia, knowing the limited time he’s had to insert a more overall in-depth offensive game plan.
“I really thought we came out and played a strong defensive game,” Branch said. “We came out and did some things on offense that really worked, but it was done at intermission in the auxiliary gym before our game. We just really haven’t had a lot of time to put things in and practice in the last two weeks because we’ve played so many games.”
Against the Matadors (2-4) from 5A on Dec. 14, Española found themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum, trailing 55-45 after the third quarter. They opened the fourth determined and after a Martinez 3-pointer and a four-point play by Mascareñas, the Sundevils climbed within 55-52 with 6:26 remaining.
Sandia’s Jacob Baldonado answered with a 3-point basket on the next possession, which began what would be an 18-2 Matador run to close out the game.
Gabe Serrano was active early and often and led Española with 13 points, Martinez had 12 and Mascareñas added 10.
Branch said the adversity his team is facing at the end of games will have to be overcome in order for a successful season outlook.
“Right now, we’re not dealing with the adversity very well,” he said. “That’s the thing we have to be able to handle and then I think we can be a very good basketball team. It takes believing in ourselves and having confidence down the stretch and not letting it fall all on one individual.”
Out of Española’s five losses thus far, four have come at the hands of 5A schools, including two to No. 2 ranked Santa Fe High School.
“I don’t believe anyone plays a tougher schedule than we do,” Branch said. “You look at all the teams we’ve played, it’s heavy, nothing bush-league and no cupcakes. We’re 5-5 and I think we could be better than that because there is a couple games that got away from us, but like I said, positive attitude, effort, unselfishness, team: you got to put a check mark on all those things and we aren’t quite there yet.”
The Sundevils played at Valencia High School Tuesday, but those results were not available by press time. They will lace it up for their final tournament stop, this time at the Rio Rancho Invitational Dec. 27-29. The first game is 7 p.m., Dec. 27 against Deming High School.
At Cleveland, Española was without senior leader Ryan Trujillo, who underwent surgery for appendicitis. Branch is hopeful he can return within two weeks. The team has also been without Rico Wagatsuma and Lorenzo Roybal.