Eldorado keeps on chugging, beats Cleveland
Valencia pours in 36 points in win
RIO RANCHO — The message last Saturday from Roy Sanchez to his Eldorado Eagles was this:
“What I told them is, ‘Don’t be fat and happy,’ ” Sanchez said.
His Eagles just keep on chewing their way through top contenders. Coming off their tournament championship at the metro event three days earlier, Eldorado — which got a bump up to No. 2 in the latest 6A coaches poll — scored nine of the game’s final 10 points over the final 55 seconds, leading to a very entertaining 72-65 victory at No. 5 Cleveland on Tuesday night.
Eldorado’s starters scored all 72 points, and the Eagles shot 55 percent (28 of 51) from the field.
Kameron Valencia had a monster game for the burnt orange, scoring exactly half (36) of his team’s points. It was a career high for Valencia, a 6-foot-3 junior forward. “We’re just playing together, and for each other,” said Valencia, who scored 22 points in the second half and who was 14-of-21 from the floor. “We definitely came out flat, so we had to respond and stay mentally tough.”
Flat is a relative term for what is easily 6A’s hottest team. The Eagles (11-2) spotted Cleveland (11-6) the first six points, but the game was extremely tight most of the way.
There were seven ties and nine lead changes. The game was knotted at 26 at halftime, and 50-50 after three quarters. Eldorado appeared briefly to have things in hand, leading 47-34 with 2:09 to go in the third quarter.
But the Storm, led by the white-hot shooting hand of guard Taylor Turner, went on a 16-3 run in those final two minutes to tie the game.
Turner, who led Cleveland with 23 points, scored 13 in the third quarter, including four 3-pointers — and one of them turned into a four-point play.
Cleveland led 64-63 with 1:16 remaining after a reverse layup by Josh Tarry, who was the only nonstarter in this game — for either team — to score points.
Point guard Jaylen Domina-Lovato rattled home a 3-pointer for Eldorado with 55 seconds left, for a 66-64 Eagles lead. Tyler Quintana’s layin with 26.7 seconds to go made it 68-64. After a Storm free throw, Valencia nailed two free throws, which essentially put it away.
“Toward the end, I challenged them about mental toughness,” Sanchez said. “I was proud of them, because they worked through it.”
The Storm (11-6), meanwhile, finds that signature win this season to be elusive. Cleveland has lost all six of its major head-tohead matchups — two to Eldorado, plus losses to Las Cruces, Los Lunas, Volcano Vista and Atrisco Heritage.
“I’m not concerned with it,” Storm coach Sean Jimenez said. “Those six games, at one point we had a lead in all six, except that loss to Eldorado in Hobbs.
(Tonight’s) game could have gone either way.”
Jalen Munn added 12 points for Cleveland, including a pair of clutch three-point plays in the fourth quarter.
Quintana added 13 points for the Eagles, who are idle until Tuesday, when they open District 2-6A action against Clovis. LA CUEVA 57, ST. PIUS 44: At La Cueva, the Bears pulled away from the Sartans (8-4) in the fourth quarter, as Isaiah Ortega led the Bears with 14 points.
It was career win No. 695 for Bears coach Frank Castillo, who goes for his next win tonight against his former school, Cibola. WEST MESA 65, MANZANO 61: In a matchup of two of 6A’s most pleasant surprise teams at Manzano, guard Eloy Medina had 22 points, including four 3s, to lead the Mustangs (10-3).
The Monarchs (7-5) got back 6-7 senior forward Eric Sonnenberg on Tuesday after he missed a few games with an illness. He scored six points in the loss.
Sonnenberg had been cleared to return earlier in the day on Tuesday.