Another OT, but this one belongs to Rams
Rio Rancho stays hot and avenges earlier loss to Cibola
RIO RANCHO — Wanna know how the defending state champions of Class 6A boys basketball got their season back on track?
Hint: It had nothing to do with basketball. And suddenly, that 0-3 start in district seems sort of irrelevant now, doesn’t it?
“After we started 0-3,” senior guard Juan Hurt said, “we had a team meeting, talking about how serious we need to get.”
Sounds like it served its purpose.
Rio Rancho withstood a series of comeback attempts by visiting Cibola on Thursday night, although it wasn’t until overtime that the Rams finally were able to shake free from the 3-point happy Cougars in an exciting 80-74 District 1-6A victory.
“The biggest thing is, we’ve been in enough games this year like this, so there’s no panic. Veteran teams don’t panic,” Rio Rancho coach Wally Salata said.
It was a crucial result for the Rams (17-8, 4-3), who are poised to claim second place in their ultra-competitive league. Rio Rancho visits Piedra Vista tonight. A win, coupled with a Cleveland victory over Volcano Vista, would allow the Rams to finish in second place behind the Storm.
And that would be quite something, given that dismal 0-3 start in district. “Everyone counted us out,” Salata said. That’s debatable, but what isn’t is the quality of Rio Rancho’s recent basketball.
And this all began inside one of Cibola’s locker rooms, coming off a tough OT loss to the Cougars on Jan. 27. Players and coaches together.
Salata is not one for long postgame speeches, but he said he kept his players at Cibola 20 minutes that night so they could discuss their situation and air out any grievances.
“I told them what I thought,” Salata said. “And then Derrick Reyes and Jeremy Snider got up and they talked about (us) being lazy in practice, going through the motions.”
On Thursday, the Rams had to be sharp. Cibola had as many 3-pointers (13) as 2s in this game.
The Cougars were cold early, as the Rams raced out to a 19-7 lead in the first quarter.
But the Cougars (17-7, 4-4) began firing more effectively in the second quarter. Isaac Brito hit three from the arc, including one just before the buzzer, to give Cibola a 32-31 halftime lead.
The Rams reclaimed the lead, 41-35, midway through the third, but then Cibola hit three 3s in a span of 49 seconds and went back in front.
Hurt buried a 3 from halfcourt to end the third quarter for the Rams, who led 53-52.
They were in front 61-55 with 4:38 to go but didn’t score again in regulation. Cameron Dixon — who finished with a game-high 30 points, including six treys — and Ricardo Zambrano hit 3s to tie the game with 3:42 left, but Cibola didn’t score again, either.
Rio Rancho scored the first seven in OT and made 15 out of 16 from the free-throw line in the extra session. The Rams were 24 out of 27 from the stripe overall. Clay Patterson, who finished with 20 points, and Hurt, who finished with 18, were a combined 10-for-10 in overtime.
Girls
CIBOLA 58, RIO RANCHO 52: At Cibola, Tiana Guillory had 14 points and the Cougars (16-8, 5-3) held off the visiting Rams. Rio Rancho (14-11, 5-2) leads second-place Volcano Vista (14-8, 4-2) and Cibola, both by one-half game, for first place in 1-6A. The Hawks were idle Thursday.