Spartans start fast, roll the Knights
Next is key Tuesday matchup at Capital
BERNALILLO — By all accounts, this was the most prosperous week of the Bernalillo Spartans’ 2015-16 boys basketball season.
Just a couple of nights after stunning Española Valley, the Spartans completed their solid week, belting visiting Del Norte 64-42 in a District 2-5A encounter Saturday night.
“It was a great week,” Bernalillo coach Terry Darnell said. “Beating Española at home helped us to keep that goal of winning the district championship.”
And look at how the schedule aligned for the Spartans (11-11, 3-2 in 2-5A).
They’ve already beaten Santa Fe Capital once, and the Jaguars (19-3, 3-1 prior to Saturday night’s game with Los Alamos) get a rematch Tuesday night in Santa Fe.
If beating the Sundevils at the buzzer wasn’t enough of a sign, then the Knights (9-12, 2-3) filled in the blanks.
Del Norte’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Daniel Flores, was out of town on a family emergency.
Compounding matters for the Knights, coach Ryan Noce said he benched three of his remaining four starters for the first quarter Saturday night for disciplinary reasons.
Therefore, it was fairly predictable Bernalillo should get off to a blazing start. And it did. The Spartans scored 15 of the game’s first 16 points, with Ty Darnell draining a pair of 3-pointers, and Daniel Jaramillo scoring another five points. Bernalillo led at one point 20-4 in the first quarter.
“We got off to a great start defensively, and we took advantage of a few miscues on their end offensively,” coach Darnell said.
And Del Norte was unable to play itself back into the game. The Knights were never closer than nine points the rest of the night.
Bernalillo hit six 3-pointers in the first half, and the Spartans regularly got inside on the Knights in the second half.
“After we hit those 3s,” Darnell said, “everything was spread out, and the lanes opened up a lot more.”
Lorenzo Martinez led the Spartans with 14 points. Darnell finished with 12, the same as Del Norte’s Alonso Cano.
HOPE CHRISTIAN 59, CLOVIS 29: At Hope, Jordan Leake led the Class 4A Huskies (21-2) with 15 points in a nondistrict blowout of the 6A Wildcats.
Girls
LA CUEVA 60, CLEVELAND 55: In Rio Rancho, Mandie Perea poured in 25 points in a nondistrict win for the Bears (15-7).
HIGHLAND 66, CAPITAL 21: At Highland, Destiny Ryan led the Hornets (6-15) with 19 points.
Next Week
BOYS: District 1-6A took an unexpected turn Friday night when the two top teams, Cibola and Rio Rancho, both lost.
Key games next week include Rio Rancho at Volcano Vista on Tuesday, plus Cibola at Rio Rancho on Friday. The losses Friday by the Cougars and Rams were extremely helpful to third-place Cleveland, which still faces both of those squads ahead of it once more.
La Cueva’s surprisingly one-sided defeat to Highland on Friday leaves Sandia (5-0 in 2-6A) with a two-game league lead over the Bears.
In 5-6A, Albuquerque High (14-7, 5-0) can all but lock up the regular-season title if the Bulldogs beat visiting Valley (15-6, 4-1) on Friday night.
St. Pius (14-7, 2-0 in 5-5A) has a huge meeting Tuesday with Grants (18-3, 2-0).
GIRLS: The first key game is Tuesday, when the co-leaders in District 5-6A — Valley (129) and Atrisco Heritage (14-8) — meet on the Jaguars’ floor. Both are 4-1 in league play.
Cibola (1-6A) and Eldorado (2-6A) have almost insurmountable leads headed into the regular season’s penultimate week.
Moriarty leads District 5-5A, and Del Norte and Los Alamos are tied for first place in 2-5A.