Sandia avenges loss to La Cueva in 70-49 win

Hobbs’ Mackey has 51 points in victory

The Sandia Matadors have been a second half team most of this season, and that proved true again on Saturday afternoon.

Class 5A’s second-ranked Matadors outscored visiting La Cueva 21-5 in the pivotal third quarter, and Sandia avenged an earlier loss to the Bears with a 70-49 District 2-5A victory.

Sandia (20-4, 7-1) inched closer to the 2-5A regular-season championship.

The Matadors sit a game in front of West Mesa. And those two close the regular season against one another Friday at Sandia. Sandia also plays Piedra Vista next week.

La Cueva is the only team this season other than Volcano Vista to defeat Sandia.

On Saturday, after a close first half — Sandia led 30-28 at halftime — the Matadors turned up the defensive heat.

“We just caused a lot of turnovers, just started scoring and hitting shots,” Sandia coach Danny Brown said.

Andrew Hill had eight of his team-best 26 points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers. Ely Lovato and Lamarion Coleman each scored six points in the quarter, as that trio combined for all but one of Sandia’s points.

“For us, if we create turnovers, we’re better offensively if we can speed them up,” Brown said.

Dalen Moyer scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter — he nailed two 3s — for Sandia. Lovato finished with 14 points.

KETTIG TAKING LEAVE: The Journal learned on Saturday that Sandia High girls basketball coach Lee Kettig is taking a leave of absence.

Sandia athletic director Brian Weems said the leave was due to “personal reasons.” It is unknown how long this leave of absence will be; the regular season ends next week.

Assistant Lindsey Kerwin will serve as interim head coach while Kettig is out, Weems said.

Kettig did not return a message seeking comment on Saturday. He did not coach the Matadors on Friday night against La Cueva.

The Matadors are having an outstanding season, although they’re not having a great week with losses to Eldorado and La Cueva. Sandia was ranked No. 5 last week by the Class 5A coaches. The Matadors are 17-7 overall and tied for third place in District 2-5A.

The Matadors have two games left in the regular season, next week against Piedra Vista and West Mesa.

FIFTY-ONE: Hobbs High senior Michael Mackey had one of the great games of the regular season, putting up 51 points for the Eagles on Friday night in their 88-68 victory over rival Clovis at Ralph Tasker Arena in Hobbs.

The 51 points is a Hobbs singlegame record. Mackey is Class 5A’s top scorer, averaging more than 22 points a game.