Trujillo, host Tigers take boys crown
Volcano Vista girls are winners
LOS LUNAS — Volcano Vista made it to the title game in both the boys and girls brackets of Friday night’s Village of Los Lunas Holiday Basketball Tournament.
But the Hawks came away with just one title after host Los Lunas came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Volcano Vista in the boys championship game.
The Hawks had been looking for a sweep after the Volcano Vista girls — led by tournament Most Valuable Player Melissa Mancha — closed with a flurry to take a 41-34 win against Bloomfield for the crown.
But Los Lunas’ Martin Trujillo — the boys MVP — led the Tigers to a 50-45 win in the final game of the three-day event that included eight boys and eight girls teams.
Boys
Trujillo’s running jumper with 4:40 left cut Volcano Vista’s lead to 42-41 and sparked an 11-0 run that nearly closed the game.
A 35-foot 3-pointer by Volcano Vista’s Jorell Phillips at the final horn was his team’s only points in the last 5 minutes.
“This group of guys have been with us for a while, so they know what to expect in terms of toughness and playing down the stretch,” said Los Lunas coach Travis Julian. “They did all the little things, and Martin had a great tournament.”
Kayden Walker’s jumper with 2:47 left gave Los Lunas a 43-42 lead — only the second lead for the Tigers in the second half — and Walker came right back with a feed to Trujillo for another layup before the host team closed it out from the foul line.
Trujillo had a game-high 20 points while Walker scored nine for the Tigers (10-1).
Josh Parmenter and David Cormier scored 11 points each to lead the Hawks (4-5).
Alamogordo took third place with 66-46 win against Valencia. The Tigers took a 15-6 lead after the first quarter and 40-22 at the half. Alamogordo was led by Dee Smith’s 19 points while Wellington Balsley added 15.
Miyamura got a gamehigh 26 points from Jason Upshaw and beat Santa Teresa 64-48 for fifth place. Gadsden stopped Centennial 62-50 for seventh place.
Girls
Volcano Vista (7-3) trailed Bloomfield 32-27 after three quarters, but Stacy Johnson and Bridgette Hinson scored back-to-back layups and pulled them within 32-31 early in the fourth quarter.
Then it was Mancha Time. The senior sharpshooter nailed a 3-pointer with 3:58 left in the fourth quarter to give Volcano Vista its first lead of the half.
“I was getting a little frustrated, because I was having trouble getting my shot to fall,” said Mancha, who had 11 points.
“It really felt good to hit that one. It felt like that opened up the basket the rest of the game.”
The lid, however, soon clamped the Bobcats’ basket shut. After Bloomfield’s Alyssa Quintana tied it at 34-34 with just more than two minutes left, Hinson hit her third 3 of the night with 1:13 left to make it 37-34.
Bloomfield (9-2) failed to score on its next two possessions, and the Hawks clinched it when Mariana Baros scored off a length-of-the-court inbounds pass with 14 seconds left, and Daron Vigil scored after stealing the Bobcats’ ensuing inbounds.
The Hawks outscored the Bobcats 14-2 in the quarter and 21-11 in the half.
Sarah Gilmore hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter to help Miyamura turn a close game at the half into a rout against Valencia for third place. The teams were tied 20-20 at the half, but Miyamura outscored the Jaguars 18-4 in the third and went on to win 51-36.
Los Lunas cruised by Grants 66-49 for fifth place with Amber Trujillo scoring a team-high 16 points and Laguna Acoma took a 35-11 halftime lead against Gadsden on the way to a 54-33 win for seventh place. Laguna’s Talia Paytiamo had 28 points.