Stingy defense not enough for Demons

The Santa Fe High Demons did a lot of things right Tuesday night — just not enough.

Even though they held Albuquerque La Cueva to 17 points under its season-average, the Demons had their own troubles scoring and it led to a 54-48 win for the Bears in a District 2-6A game in Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium. The loss is the third in the last four games for Santa Fe High (11-12 overall, 3-4 in 2-5A), but this performance was a marked improvement from a 75-60 loss in Albuquerque on Jan. 20.

La Cueva (14-7, 6-2) led by as much as 25 points in the first meeting before Santa Fe High rallied, but the pace in the rematch was more to the Demons’ liking. La Cueva only led 25-18 at the half, and the Demons were within 40-38 with 5 minutes left in the game.

“Defensively, we were really good,” Santa Fe High head coach Zack Cole said. “We just didn’t shoot very well. We couldn’t buy a bucket in some stretches there. We weren’t as aggressive as we wanted to be.”

Still, Santa Fe High got to the line 18 times, but made just 10 attempts. It was worse from the perimeter, where the Demons went just 4-for-20 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“That was sort of frustrating,” Cole said. “We had a lot of good looks at 3s. We need to make them against a team like La Cueva, because they are a too big and physical inside.”

Victor Salcido led the Demons with 19 points, while Antonio Lovato added nine.

Santa Fe High has its home finale on Saturday against Clovis at 7 p.m.

CORONADO 46, SANTA FE WALDORF 41

The middle school season is over, much to the relief of the player-starved Wolves.

Waldorf forfeited its Feb. 3 1-1A contest against Walatowa because of a lack of players since the eighth-graders were committed to a season-ending middle school tournament. With that out of the way, Waldorf held a 31-30 lead through three quarters of a district game in Gallina but hit the wall in the fourth quarter.

Coronado built the lead to 45-38 heading into the final minute when Liam Otero hit a 3 with 45 seconds left to cut the lead to 45-41. After a Leopards miss, Jeromy Lopez lined up a 3, but it rattled in and out to end the comeback attempt.

“It was in the rim, then it goes in and out,” Wolves head coach Enrique Otero said. “That was going to put us down by one with 15 seconds left.”

Liam Otero finished with a game-high 23 points, while Lopez added nine.

Waldorf continues its four-game road trip on Thursday with a visit to Albuquerque for a 1-1A game against Evangel Christian.

NEW MEXICO SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF 52, WALATOWA 50

The Roadrunners took the lead in 1-1A with a heart-pumping win in Jemez. Deven Thompson had his third straight game of scoring at least 40 points with exactly 40. He also had 13 rebounds.

NMSD (13-4, 4-1) takes a break from district play with a trip to Olathe, Kans., for the Great Plains School for the Deaf Tournament on Thursday. The Roadrunners are the No. 1 seed in the bracket.

GIRLS ST. MICHAEL’S 57, TAOS 45

The Lady Horsemen broke through for their first win in 2-4A play, building a 44-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter thanks to stingy defense and a balanced scoring attack.

St. Michal’s (9-14, 1-4) had three scorers reach double figures, led by Carisa Padilla’s 16 points. Cia Alvarez and Karissa Baca each added 12. Taos had Aaliyah Quintana with 15 points, and Amiree Olivas added 11.

LAS VEGAS ROBERTSON 69, WEST LAS VEGAS 30

The Lady Cardinals train kept right on rolling, holding the Lady Dons to just two first-quarter points as Robertson built a 31-14 lead at the half in Gillie Lopez Memorial Gymnasium.

Brianna Roybal knocked down four 3s in the first half for the Lady Cardinals (21-3, 6-0), on her way to a 16-point performance, while Alianza Darley scored 16 of her team-high 25 points in the second half.

Brianna Maes and Jenna Bustos led West Las Vegas (15-8, 2-3) with nine points each

ACADEMY FOR TECHNOLOGY AND THE CLASSICS 39, DESERT ACADEMY/SANTA FE WALDORF 31

The Phoenix earned their first 3-3A win of the season, building a double-digit lead before the Wild Wolves made a late rally to get the margin into single digits at Nina Otero Community School.

Felicity Sealy had 19 points to lead ATC (8-14, 1-5), while Reyna Rodriguez added seven.