The Santa Fe Demons stormed out to an 8-0 lead against the Española Valley Sundevils in the opening minutes of their semifinal game Dec. 19 at the Jaguar Invitational in Santa Fe.
The Demons were seeking to end three years of frustration against the Sundevils that had begun in December 2005 in the championship game of the same tournament, when the Sundevils defeated Santa Fe 57-56 to win the title. Española had beaten Santa Fe four consecutive times since that victory.
The Sundevils made it five straight wins over the Demons last week by rallying to take a 31-23 lead at the end of the first half and blowing the game open in the second half. The Sundevils sank four three-pointers in the final 70 seconds of the third quarter to take a 54-30 lead and went on to demolish the Demons 80-48 to advance to the championship game.
The swarming Sundevils forced 24 turnovers against the Demons. Española coach Richard Martinez constantly substituted players without any drop off in the intensity of play and the overwhelmed Demons surrendered under the constant pressure and saturation bombing of the Sundevils.
“Time and pressure will break something if you keep applying it,” Martinez said. “(Santa Fe) broke.”
The Sundevils sank 12 three-pointers, with senior guard Donovan Maldonado canning five and finishing the game with 19 points to lead all scorers. Matt Brito scored 14 points and Luis Alvarado had 13 points.
“We can play like that every game, it’s just a matter of doing it,” Maldonado said. “We showed what we can do tonight.”
The Sundevils had defeated West Las Vegas 77-55 in the opening round Dec. 18 to advance to the semifinals. Española moved on to the championship game Dec. 20 against host Capital.