Jaguars grind out a win against Albuquerque High
Win over Albuquerque High puts Capital in four-way tie for third place in district
T.J. Sanchez welcomed the pressure that comes with a “must-win” situation.
The Capital junior wing had better get used to it, because that’s the scenario for the rest of the boys basketball season for the Jaguars.
Coming into Tuesday’s District 5-5A game against district co-leader Albuquerque High, last-place Capital knew another loss would likely mean the end of its postseason chances. Thanks to Sanchez’s 28 pressurepacked points and some timely freethrow shooting from senior guard Siji Olivas, the Jaguars grinded out a 69-62 win in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium that was harder than expected.
Regardless of the how, Capital (15-7 overall) finds itself in a four-way tie for third with Santa Fe High plus Albuquerque schools Rio Grande and Sandia at 3-4 in 5-5A. However, all four teams are just a game out of second (Albuquerque High at 4-3) and just two games behind Albuquerque Manzano for the district lead, with three games left in the season. While winning the district title seems like a tall task, the Jaguars are more concerned with simply surviving right now.
“Personally, I like a lot of pressure,” Sanchez said. “Pressure games make me better.”
Playing pressure-packed games in February, though, seemed unlikely when district play started in midJanuary, when Capital held a 12-3 record and had a MaxPreps.com Freeman ranking (which the New Mexico Activities Association uses to select and seed teams for the postseason) in the Top 10. A 2-4 start to 5-5A play that put it behind Albuquerque High (7-14) and Rio Grande — two teams that had six combined wins in the nondistrict season — in the standings.
The Jaguars played like a Top 10 team for the first 20 minutes of the game, as they hit 18 of their first 28 shots from the field against a 2-3 zone defense that normally stymied the offense. Sanchez feasted upon it, scoring 18 points in the first half, as the Jaguars patiently found the openings and got mostly wide-open looks in the paint.
“Us against zone usually throws us off,” Sanchez said. “But [head coach Ben] Gomez has been working on that to find plays against the zone. So, it’s been working because teams have been using zone against us a lot.”
Capital also took care of the ball, turning it over just eight times at the midway point of the third quarter, and was cruising along with a 46-27 lead on Elias Rodriguez’s floater in the lane with 4:50 left, but the Bulldogs installed their own sense of desperation in the form of a full-court press. The Jaguars grew tentative against it and resulted in a 21-7 closing run by Albuquerque High that cut the lead to 55-48 when Jude Tapia scored on a breakaway layup with 9 seconds left.
Capital started to unravel in the final 2 minutes of the quarter, as four of its last five possessions ended in turnovers.
“Mentally, that’s what hurts us,” Sanchez said. “We will be doing good, then have a few mistakes that bring us down. That’s something we’ve been working on this week.”
Adding to the frustration were lineup changes that saw Erik Garcia and Marcus Lucero see significant playing time down the stretch over normal rotation players Dominic Luna and Brandon Saiz. Capital head