Menaul gets back to a title contest
Ou leads Panthers to meet Fort Sumner/House
RIO RANCHO — Menaul advanced to its first state championship game in 30 years by knocking off 2A’s top-seeded Magdalena 69-55 on Thursday night in semifinal action.
Michael Ou scored 31 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Panthers (26-5), who will meet No. 2 seed Fort Sumner/House on Saturday at 6 p.m at Dreamstyle Arena.
Menaul played in the 2A final in 1988 — a game it lost— but a player from that team spoke with the team earlier in the day.
“There are steps we wanted to take,” said Menaul coach Gary Boatman. “The alumni are coming around, and that ’88 team … this team is bringing that fire back to Menaul that was there in the 1980s.”
Ou was a fixture in every key Panthers run. He had 10 points in the second quarter to help his team build a 31-19 halftime lead, and he scored 10 more in the third to help extend the lead to 15 in the third.
“We wanted to beat them one time,” said Ou, whose club lost three times to Magdalena this season. “And we did that.”
Magdalena (28-2) was in its fourth straight final four and was looking to match the 2015 team’s state title.
The Steers relied mainly on the 3-pointer, hitting 11 out of 36 attempts, in large part to avoid Ou’s 6-foot-9 presence on the interior.
“Some of our shots weren’t falling, and we took some bad ones,” said Steers guard Jorrell Mirabal. “At times we should have taken better ones. We were passive at times when we should have been aggressive, and (Menaul) hit huge shots.”
Richie Chavez led Magdalena with 15 points. — Patrick Newell
No. 2 FORT SUMNER/HOUSE 60, No.
3 MESILLA VALLEY 58 (OT): Brant West scored 25 points, including seven in overtime, as Fort Sumner/House (23-6) pulled out a back-and-forth battle with Mesilla Valley Christian (23-3).
West scored to give the Foxes a 48-44 lead with 1:15 left in regulation, but Mesilla Valley later tied things on a Nolan Nunley’s steal and layup with 38 seconds left. The Son Blazers forced another turnover and had two short jumpers in the final seconds but missed on both to force overtime.
The teams traded the lead several times in overtime before West’s three-point play put Fort Sumner/House ahead 56-55 with 1:03 left. The Blazers twice missed the front of one-and-one opportunities in the final minute while Maxwell went 4-for-4 from the line to make the score 60-55.
Michael Johnson swished a 3-pointer to get Mesilla Valley close, but his final jumper for the lead rattled out as time expired.
Josh Castillo scored 15 points to lead Mesilla Valley. The Son Blazers got doubledoubles from Nolan Nunley (14 points and 11 rebounds) and Noah Coyle (10 and 14).