Neighboring Belen, Los Lunas to meet
Española Valley, Artesia also advance
Neighbors and rivals Belen and Los Lunas are readying for a big clash in Albuquerque.
Both teams advanced Wednesday in the Class 5A boys quarterfinals in the Pit — the Eagles beating Roswell, the Tigers knocking off Kirtland Central.
Their semifinal showdown is 3 p.m. today in the Pit.
Artesia, a narrow winner over Capital, and Española Valley will meet in the other quarterfinal. No. 3 BELEN 60, No. 6 ROSWELL
53: Halfway through the first quarter, a case could have been made that the Eagles (24-7) were already looking ahead to the semifinals. Belen was up 15-0 and had hit three 3-pointers.
All of sudden, however, the Coyotes (20-9) turned up the pressure in what would become a gamelong thorn for the Eagles.
“Falling down 15-0, we knew we’d be all right,” said Roswell coach Victor Bolaños. “That’s a big hole to try and overcome, but we did. We had our chances.”
The Coyotes certainly did, scoring the final eight points of the first quarter, then using a 14-0 second-quarter run to take a 22-18 lead, with Taymon Burrola scoring eight of 25 points in the period.
From that point the game was a scramble as neither team had a lead greater than five points until the closing seconds.
By halftime, Belen had 16 turnovers.
“Their press honestly was pretty good but we just had to get through it and handle the pressure,” said guard Uriah Zengerly, who finished with 13 points. “Some calls weren’t going our way but we were able to get through it. We just stayed together.”
Still, the Eagles turned it over another 10 times in the second half, although a slight adjustment helped by bringing 6-foot-4 forward Matthew Padilla back to help break the press.
“I think it took a second for us to feel it out,” said Gilbert Gallegos, who finished with 16 points, nine of those coming in the final quarter as Belen came back from a 40-38 deficit. “The first half was pretty bad, but the second half, I feel like Matt actually helped us a lot with the size up there. He just kind of got it, scanned everything and found the open guy.”
Belen’s height proved to the difference, with the Eagles holding a 53-37 rebounding edge. Ryan Garcia finished with 22 rebounds to go along with 15 points. His putback early in the fourth quarter put Belen up for good.
Moments later, Gallegos hit a 3-pointer.
“We just kept going and my guys kept trusting me and the coaches left me in,” he said. “I wasn’t playing very well to begin and we just kept playing, kept battling and it turned out good for us. I ended up
getting going at the right time.” — Glen Rosales No. 2 LOS LUNAS 59, No. 7 KIRTLAND CENTRAL 51: Darius Haywood scored 16 points and Zanen Zeller flirted with a triple-double as the Tigers (24-5) pulled away in the fourth quarter to knock out the Broncos (20-11).
Zeller finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Los Lunas, which led just 40-38 after Kirtland’s Brock Beckstead nailed a half-court shot at the third-quarter buzzer. But the Tigers controlled the final quarter and put the game away with free throws down the stretch.
AJ Garcia had 12 points and Nick Gaerian scored 11 for Los Lunas. Bryson Dowdy led Kirtland Central with 16 points. — Ken Sickenger No. 5 ARTESIA 65, No. 4 CAPITAL 63: Artesia’s dominance on the boards and offensively in the paint and free throw line proved to be decisive.
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Jaguars 38-16 and hit 19 of 27 free throws to secure a place in the state semifinals. Chaney Hardt led Artesia with 15 points while Tyler Alarid scored a game-high 30 for Capital as the Artesia man defense struggled to contain him. — Noah Seligman No. 1 ESPAÑOLA VALLEY 61,
No. 8 ST. PIUS 41: Christian Fernandez scored 17 points as the Sundevils (27-1) scored an early knockout over the Sartans (1611), much to the delight of a huge crowd at Dreamstyle Arena.
Española Valley built leads of 10-1 and 18-3 before the Sartans began to settle down. St. Pius had three air balls from long range and was called for a lane violation on its first set of free throws in the game’s early minutes.
The Sundevils led 24-12 after one quarter then put things far out of reach with a 13-3 run to start the second. Daniel Vigil scored 16 points for St. Pius.