The Española Valley Sundevils boys basketball team has started strongly this season despite losing four starters to graduation and despite facing an early schedule packed with Class AAAAA teams.
The Sundevils are 7-1 on the season; their only loss was a 58-57 defeat to La Cueva, the defending Class AAAAA state champion, Dec. 11 at Albuquerque Academy. Española suffered that loss a night after beating Manzano, the then-second ranked team in Class AAAAA. Española is 4-1 against the larger Class AAAAA schools.
“I could tell as a coach that they were going to be good because I saw them play the whole summer,” Española coach Richard Martinez said. “They haven’t reached their peak yet.”
Only 6-foot-2-inch senior forward Luis Alvarado is the only returning starter from a team that reached the Class AAAA semifinals. The new starters include junior guards Rodney Coles and Richie Mondragon, senior post Gabriel Rodriguez and forward Aaron Aragon.
Martinez doesn’t hesitate to use all the players he has, often going 10 deep on the bench. In the Sundevils’ most recent victory, a 112-79 blowout of Rio Rancho, a Class AAAAA team, nine Sundevils scored and six scored in double figures.
“I think this team’s best attribute is they’re all very athletic, and they can do a lot of things with the basketball,” Martinez said. “It’s not just one or two players.”
Alvarado feels the same way about the team. Although he led Española with 25 points against Rio Rancho, he said any of his teammates are capable of leading the team in scoring on any given night.
“Because all of us can pretty much score the other teams don’t know who to look out for,” he said.
Coles has taken over at point guard and has led the Sundevils in scoring in two of their victories.
“We have a lot of weapons,” he said. “One player isn’t expected to have a big game every night.”
Despite the team’s success, both Alvarado and Coles said that the team needs to get stronger defensively.
“I’m glad that they’re saying that,” Martinez said. “That’s the one thing we’re probably lacking the most.”
The Sundevils schedule doesn’t get any easier. Española’s next game will come Dec. 28 at 5:15 p.m. against Sandia Prep, a tough Class AAA team, in the New Mexico Oil and Gas Tournament at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho. The tournament field also includes three Class AAAA schools and two out-of-state teams.
The Sundevils recently added a game against Hope Christian, the 2009 Class AAA state champions, to their schedule. The teams will play Jan. 13 in Española. The Huskies defeated three Class AAAAA schools on their way to the Albuquerque Public Schools Invitational title Dec. 5 in Albuquerque.
Later in January, the Sundevils play Clovis, Hobbs and Los Alamos all within seven days. The former two teams are Class AAAAA powerhouses, and Los Alamos is Española’s main competitor for the District 2AAAA crown.
“One of the strengths of this team is going to be the level of competition they’ve played,” Martinez said. “They’ve been thrown into the fire with the bigger schools and shown they can play with them.”
The Sundevils open their District 2AAAA season Jan. 13 at home against Taos.
The Sundevils have lost in the Class AAAA state semifinals the last two seasons. They lost 55-54 in overtime to Albuquerque Academy in 2008 and 58-56 in triple overtime to Artesia last season. Martinez said the team’s goal is to win the first state basketball title in school history.
“That’s what you work for,” he said. “We need a little bit of luck.”