Tigers finish off Sundevils
The Taos Tigers beat the visiting Espanola Valley Sundevils 46-30 Feb. 17 to secure the best regular season record in the district at 16-10 (tiebreaker over Pojoaque Valley) and the best head-to-head record in district play at 7-1.
This being the second encounter between the two teams and an important game seeding-wise for Taos and Española, it was a lowscoring affair in the first half. Both teams took their time on offense to set up plays and both teams made committed defensive efforts to prevent the other team from scoring.
Española led 7-6 after the first quarter but only scored a single field goal, made by Francis Vince Concepcion, and were trailing 9-12 at halftime. Taos averages 26.3 points a game through two quarters, while Española averages 20 points a game in their first halves.
Isaiah Apodaca played limited minutes for the Tigers but his two 3-pointers, one early in the first quarter, and his second — a dagger 3-pointer to give Taos a seven-point cushion against the
Sundevils with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter — were crucial. Apodaca was the only Tiger to connect from beyond the arc. Once the Tigers got the lead they went on a 15-6 run to close out the Sundevils.
Daemon Ely led all scorers with 23 points.
In a post-game interview, coach Hernandez “Nando” Chavez commented on his team’s late-game execution.
“Really proud of the effort that our boys had tonight, especially in the fourth quarter,” he said. “This is two games in a row, now. The Moriarty game was really when we turned it up a notch there in the fourth quarter [outscoring Moriarty 11-9 to win it 44-42]. And we finished strong — of course, you always want to start strong, stay strong and finish strong.
“But what I was really proud of was the way we were able to put them away,” Chavez added. “We jumped out to a seven-point lead there, and I think they called a timeout. We brought them over and said, ‘Hey, man, you know you smell blood in the water. Now you got to go in for the kill.’ And they did exactly just that. And it’s happening because of the effort they’re giving on the defensive side of the floor and the fact that we chase down balls, we chase down rebounds, and I’m just really happy for our guys right now.”