Horsemen take control
St. Michael’s fares far better against Braves than in last season’s state tournament matchup
As David Rodriguez looked up at the scoreboard, an epiphany hit him.
It was a 9-0 score against Santa Fe Indian School again.
Only, it was the Horsemen in control Tuesday night, and not the Braves, like it was on March 15, when SFIS upset top-seeded St. Michael’s in the Class 3A semifinals.
While Rodriguez said this St. Michael’s team is different from last year’s after the current edition secured a 67-43 win over the Braves in a District 2-3A game in Perez-Shelley Gymnasium, the Horsemen head coach couldn’t help but notice the parallels.
“I looked up at that score and I remembered,” Rodriguez said. “I almost said something to my coaches, but I didn’t.”
It was better to leave the past alone, but not forget the lessons taught from that fateful day in The Pit. When the Braves raced out to a 9-0 lead in the 3A semifinal, St. Michael’s was rattled and never really regained its composure in a 48-35 loss. And yes, the Horsemen graduated nine seniors from that squad, but six players returned and they strove to learn from last year’s disappointment.
“We came in a little big-headed [last year], but we’ve learned we have to settle ourselves down in moments like this,” senior Thomas Wood said. “We knew that we might be 2-and-0 [in district play this season], but we can’t take any team lightly.”
So it was that the Horsemen (12-7 overall, 3-0 in 2-3A) took control of Tuesday’s game early and did not let go. The Braves missed their first four shots and turned the ball over four
times to actually fall behind 10-0 after Devin Flores hit a free throw. SFIS (10-9, 0-3) had nine turnovers in the opening quarter and 15 at the half, on its way to 22 for the game as the Horsemen press forced a plethora of mistakes.
Then there was the Horsemen’s size advantage. At certain points, St. Michael’s fielded a lineup in which its shortest player was 5-foot-10 Kennis Romero. Meanwhile, SFIS had only one player taller than that — 6-footer Kobe Garcia. The Horsemen held a 35-23 rebounding advantage until the Braves grabbed five offensive rebounds in one possession late in the game to cut into that gap.
Lucas Coriz came away with 10 rebounds, and four were on the offensive end. His only problem was that he could not finish around the rim.
“Poor Lucas,” Rodriguez said. “He worked hard and was dominating the boards but he couldn’t buy a basket. He did have six assists, so that was nice.”
Coriz wasn’t the only player in white and blue to have that problem. Rodriguez said the team left about 12 points on the floor from missed layups and short jumpers that were good looks. The Horsemen also turned the ball over 16 times, often in transition as passes were just a fraction of an inch too long or an inability for the ballhandler to control his dribble.
“We were just rushing,” said sophomore guard Devin Flores, who was a part of last year’s team. “We weren’t running our offense. We were just pushing the ball too quick and throwing some passes that weren’t needed.”
It was a lifeline SFIS seized upon and almost dragged itself out of a 38-16 deficit late in the first half. The Braves scored the last six points of the half, then Isaiah Moquino scored on a layup in the opening seconds of the third quarter and the margin was down to 38-24.
SFIS had chances to cut into that margin, but missed shots doomed any chance of a comeback.
“Oh my gosh, we missed so many layups and so many jumpers,” Braves head coach Jason Abeyta said. “We’ve gotten into a funk and we haven’t been able to shoot how we’re capable of. I am just hoping that we can pick it up later.”
St. Michael’s didn’t help itself by taking consecutive 3-pointers and turning the ball over to start the second half, and Rodriguez had flashbacks to another not-so-comfortable moment earlier this year. When the Horsemen played Taos in the final game of the Horsemen Shootout on Jan. 11, they shot themselves out of the game to start the second half with 3-point misses that were out of character.
It took an 8-3 run to close out the third quarter and a 3 by Romero to open the fourth for St. Michael’s to take a 55-33 lead that was finally comfortable.
“I felt like we were regressing to mistakes we made against Taos,” Rodriguez said. “We shot two quick 3s, and turned the ball over and gave up a quick layup. You can’t start that way against a good team. I wanted to get that message across. Maybe we need to script a few plays to start the second half because those were bad decisions.”
But the Horsemen learned from that moment — just like they did from last year’s semifinal.
Perhaps Rodriguez won’t need many more reminders of past mistakes to ensure a rosier future.