Could it have been any rougher of a two-day stretch?
In a daunting 48 hours and 64 minutes of game time, the Española Valley High School boys basketball team learned a thing or two about high-caliber play during their participation in the Al Armendariz Tournament this past weekend.
They just had to learn it the hard way.
Faced against two of the toughest teams in their respected classifications during the semifinals and third-place game at Capital High School’s Edward A. Ortiz Gymnasium, the Sundevils (5-3) had their backs pinned against the wall in losses to Class 5A Capital and Class 2A Pecos High School.
Española was defeated by the host Jaguars 67-18 on Dec. 13 and lost by the final count of 65-29 against the Panthers on Dec. 14.
Following the loss to the three-time defending state champion Panthers, Española head coach Gabe Martinez needed a moment to collect his thoughts before commenting on the two days that went terribly wrong for the Sundevils.
“We played two high-quality teams and our boys our still adapting to that kind of play,” Martinez finally said. “We had a little bit of nerves, a little bit of uncertainty and a little bit of youth show itself out there.”
Certainly, none of those qualities were visible from Pecos, who used a 20-3 run in the first quarter to open the floodgates on the game to outscore the Sundevils 22-7 in the opening stanza.
Things escalated quickly in the second quarter, and after Jon Garcia scored the opening bucket for Española, the Panthers’ Juan Varela scored consecutive baskets off Española turnovers forced by Pecos’ pesky press defense.
On the very next possession, Anthony Armijo drilled a 3-pointer that made the score 31-9 in Pecos’ favor to force Martinez to call a timeout.
The Panthers constructed a 51-11 halftime lead behind a formula of stealing the ball away from Española and converting buckets in transition at will.
Xavier Padilla carried Pecos with 17 points, Ismael Villegas scored 12 and Varela added 10. Garrett May was the Sundevils’ leading scorer with 11 points.
With Pecos firmly in control, the second half featured much less fireworks, as the Sundevils outscored the Panthers 18-14 over the final 16 minutes.
Martinez was glad his team at least made the most out of the traumatic situation that had transpired.
“I believe we will be a much better team come January and end of February, but I was proud of how my boys played in the second half,” Martinez said. “If there’s one positive I could find in that game for these boys to move forward with it’s that we actually played a pretty good second half.”
Española’s lone win of the tournament came in the opening round when the Sundevils dished out a blowout of their own, handing Santa Fe Indian School a 64-38 loss on Dec. 12. Andray Pena led Española that day with 15 points and nine of the 11 players who suited up inked the scoring column.
“Yes we are youthful and yes we are inexperienced, but you will get no excuses from us,” Martinez said in conclusion. “We flat-out need to get better, I need to get better and the boys need to get better. We are growing up and learning each and every game and the wins and losses teach us something and it’s all necessary and part of the process.”
Boys championship
Capital was able to serve up some revenge to crosstown rival Santa Fe High, defeating the Demons 53-50 after suffering a 48-45 overtime loss one week prior in the Bobby Rodriguez Capital City Invite championship game.
With two of Santa Fe’s key players in Fedonta “JB” White and P.J. Lovato in foul trouble early, the Jaguars surged to a 28-18 halftime lead and extended the margin to 35-24 in the third quarter.
The Demons nearly climbed all the way back by closing the gap to 38-36 with 6:46 left in the fourth quarter after a layup by Lovato, but Capital’s Dominic Luna countered with a huge 3-pointer to keep the Jaguars in check the rest of the way.
Santa Fe shot just 8-of-18 from the charity stripe and Capital survived being outscored 32-25 in the second half.
Seth Arroyos led the Jaguars with 13 points and Chano Herrera and T.J. Sanchez eclipsed double-digits with 12 and 11 points. White carried the Demons with 20.
Girls championship
Don’t look now, but the Tohatchi High School girls basketball team could be one the best in Class 3A. Ranked eighth overall in the state in all classifications at the time by MaxPreps, the Lady Cougars proved their worthiness with a convincing 50-38 win over Santa Fe Indian School to claim the first-place trophy.
The Lady Cougars (6-1) opened the game with heavy defensive pressure to force four consecutive Indian School turnovers and conducted an 8-0 scoring run off the bat.
It was a start the Lady Braves (6-2) never seemed to overcome.
Tohatchi led 16-4 after the first quarter and built a 29-13 lead at halftime, capped off by a 3-pointer from Krystal Benally with 17 seconds remaining.
The Indian School was more fortunate a night earlier in the semifinals, as they overcame a 13-point deficit and 10-point margin entering the fourth quarter against Capital, but no such luck would come against the Lady Cougars.
Trailing 41-17 entering the final eight minutes, the Lady Braves dominated the fourth quarter by outscoring Tohatchi 21-9, but the damage disposed to them in the first quarter proved too tall of a mountain to climb.
Cameron Tsosie led all scorers with 13 points for the Lady Cougars and Benally scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half.
Tohatchi also defeated Class 5A Santa Fe in the opening round by a score of 47-32.