Demons rack up another win versus Los Lunas
Santa Fe High proves it’s a force even when star White isn’t on court
While the Demons’ opponents focus their game plan on trying to get Fedonta ‘JB’ White out of the game via foul trouble, they are learning that is just one step in the process.
For parts of the past three games, the Santa Fe High Demons had to show they were more than just one player.
And they are succeeding.
Of course, having a 6-foot-8 phenom in Fedonta “JB” White is a great asset to have, but the
Demons had to go at it without him for long stretches in the last two games of Capital’s Al Armendariz Tournament.
On Tuesday night, the script repeated itself as White found himself parked to the bench with two fouls for the last three-plus minutes of the first half in a nondistrict game against Los Lunas in Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium. Then, he picked up a third barely two minutes into the third quarter, and returned to his seat for most of the quarter.
It didn’t matter in the end, not when there are experienced players capable of picking up the slack. Junior Cody Garcia and Carlos Dassaro combined for 15 points during a crucial 21-0 run that proved to be the di≠erence in a 58-40 win to improve the Demons’ record to 7-1.
While opponents focus their game plan on trying to get White out of the game via foul trouble, they are learning that is just one step in the process.
Garcia and Dassaro, both key pieces returning from last year’s Class 5A runner-up team, showed the kind of maturity that comes from playing in high-pressure situations.
“Every time JB is o≠ the court, we know to step it up, either rebounding or just playing hard,” Dassaro said.
If anyone adheres to that credo, it is Dassaro, the 6-foot senior forward. While he only had two rebounds, he gathered three steals. One came during the decisive run, as he stole a pass in the backcourt after Garcia made the first of two 3-pointers and scored on a breakaway layup to make it 36-21 with 4:59 left in the third.
Garcia followed that with the unicorn of a play that all shooters dream of — the glorious four-point play. Garcia drained his triple from the right wing with Tigers guard Pat Mariano rushing to close out of him. Instead, he knocked Garcia down to the ground as the shot hit nothing but net. The ensuing free throw made for a 40-21 advantage with 4:05 left.
Garcia hit two of the Demons’ four 3s, which is a far cry from the 10 they try to average, but it seems that the
team has a way of hitting those shots at the right time.
“I think it comes down to us taking the right shot,” Garcia said. “The shots we’re taking were the right ones. Maybe some of them were forced, but other than that, we’re just trying to move the ball and get some open looks.”
If only Los Lunas (3-3) was that fortunate. The Tigers were atrocious from the field, going 5-for-20 in the first half and 8-for-40 until hitting seven of their last 11 during a closing 19-6 run to make the score respectable.
Los Lunas missed its first 10 3-pointers until Joel Hernandez hit a triple from the left sideline to stop the Demons run and cut the margin to 52-24 at the 5:22 mark. Demons head coach Zack Cole said his team did a good job of transitioning from their press into a 2-3 zone that flummoxed the Tigers.
“I liked how we were able to go from ‘Roadrunner’ into our twenty-three [the 2-3 zone] and make them shoot over us,” Cole said. “The scouting was that they could shoot, but we’d rather let them do that than pound it into those monsters inside.”
The monsters in question were 6-2 forwards Tyler Kiehne and Bryce Santana. Kiehne only had five points on the night, while Santana managed to produce only half of his 22 points-per-game average and had to score seven points in the second half just to get to that.
Meanwhile, Santa Fe High’s monster (White) still led the team with 12 points despite playing a little more than half of the game. That’s where Dassaro and Garcia, with 11 points apiece, offset White’s diminished production.
“We know JB is a great player and he’s the target of what other teams are going to do,” Cole said. “Our guys are here for a reason, and we tell them. We work so much in practice for them to understand their roles and our concepts, that we expect them to do that when they go in.”
For role players, they sometimes do a good job stepping into the spotlight on occasion.
That can only help as the season gets older.