Capital rallies in 4th quarter to defeat Los Lunas
Key steals, big shots help Capital overcome aggressive Los Lunas
The Capital Jaguars have seen physical teams, but then there are the Los Lunas Tigers. They are big, tough and aggressive, and they made the Capital Jaguars earn everything they got Tuesday night. It wasn’t just a onesided battle, though. The Jaguars were tough enough to take those shots and give a few of their own.
Thanks to some key steals and big shots, the Jaguars held on for a 44-40 nondistrict boys basketball win in a battle between two of the top teams in Class 5A in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium. But it’s what Capital head coach Ben Gomez expects when it comes to the Tigers, who came into the game ranked No. 2 in the latest New Mexico Overtime SportsCenter coaches poll. Capital was right behind them at No. 3.
“All in all, it’s a good experience to play a team like that,” Gomez said. “I knew it was going to be a physical game. I was pleasantly surprised with the way we responded.”
Gomez had to like the way the Jaguars (14-2) responded right when it appeared Los Lunas finally found their rhythm offensively. The Tigers hit six straight shots from the end of the third quarter to the start of the fourth to turn a 29-24 deficit into a 34-32 lead when Zanen Zeller hit a runner in the lane with 4:41 left for the lead — their first since the opening minutes of the game.
The comeback coincided with the coldest stretch of shooting from the Jaguars, and that was embodied the most by Tyler Alarid. In one possession late in the third quarter, he missed three straight shots, including air-balling a couple of 3-pointers. That type of a streak would have damaged his psyche a year ago.
“Not this year,” Alarid said. “I built my confidence from coach telling me, ‘Just move on. Next play.’ Plus, as the point guard, I got to be ready for the next play.”
So, he was ready for the moment to take the reins and steady his teammates. After hitting a couple of free throws to tie the score at 34-all at 4:18 of the fourth, Capital came up with a timely steal from T.J. Sanchez in the paint and transitioned to the frontcourt. He found Alarid open in the right corner and the senior drained a 3 to make it 37-34 with 3:48 left.
“People see him and think they can take advantage of him, but he doesn’t back down,” Gomez said. “He has a really good basketball IQ and he has a really high confidence in himself. He knows that he had a couple of air balls, but, like I say, you got to be ready to shoot. The way you shoot the ball, you’ll make it next time.”
The Jaguars, in a rare, grindit-out type of game, kept making plays when they needed to. Sanchez managed a pair of steals, converting one of them into a breakaway layup for a 39-36 lead with 2:15 left.
After Tigers forward A.J. Garcia cut the margin to 39-38 with a layup at the 1:36 mark, Capital broke down the Tigers’ defense when Matt Smith drove and dished to wide-open Aaron Garcia in the low block for a layup and a 41-38 edge with 1:15 left.
“It was huge,” Aaron Garcia said. “They’re a good defensive team, and they played well on us. We average a lot of points, but they cut that in half, almost.”
Capital finished the night by going 4-for-4 from the freethrow line. Meanwhile Los Lunas (10-3) was a paltry 4-for-11, including a 3-of-9 stretch in the third quarter.
Los Lunas held Capital to its lowest point total of the season, although it didn’t seem like it in the first four minutes. Alarid scored eight of his 15 points in the opening quarter, and T.J. Sanchez hit a 3 to give the Jaguars an 11-5 lead by that point.
The Tigers adjusted by playing a variety of zone defenses and man-to-man to keep the Jaguars off balance. That strategy worked in the Jaguars’ two losses against Pecos and St. Michael’s, but they kept their composure this time.
Even when Los Lunas tied the score at 13-all on Darius Haywood’s 12-foot jumper with 5:15 left in the second quarter, Capital responded with an Aaron Garcia 3 from the left wing for a 16-13 lead that started a 6-0 spurt.
“That’s where we got to stay up and alert and just play hard,” Gomez said. “We to be able to play through all that stuff and keep our composure and make things work and give ourselves a chance.”