Winter storm causes schedule changes

Metro Tournament will finish Monday

Mother Nature was the big winner Friday.

The strong winter storm that brushed into Albuquerque on Friday morning canceled classes at Albuquerque Public Schools — and by extension, the third round of the Albuquerque Metro Basketball Championships.

All of Friday’s 16 games in the boys and girls brackets were canceled and pushed back to today.

The tournament will now conclude on Monday, and at different venues than originally planned.

The boys semifinals will be played today at Del Norte, with No. 1 seed Albuquerque High playing No. 5 Rio Rancho at 4 p.m., followed at 6 p.m. by No. 10 Volcano Vista and No. 11 Sandia.

The final will be played Monday night at 7 at Cibola, with the third-place game preceding it at 5 p.m.

If there was one benefit to the storm, it’s this: prep basketball fans have the opportunity to watch all four semifinals, boys and girls, at one site today.

The girls semifinals will be played today at Del Norte, before the boys. No. 1 seed Hope Christian meets No. 4 La Cueva at noon, with No. 2 Eldorado facing No. 3 West Mesa at 2 p.m.

However, the girls championship game will now be contested at a separate site from the boys. The two were to be played backto-back today at Del Norte, but the girls’ title game has been switched to Sandia, at 7 p.m. Monday. The third-place game is at 5 p.m. SANDIA PREP INVITATIONAL: The weather also has played havoc with the Sundevils’ girls event. Friday’s slate of four games was wiped out.

Today, the semifinals will be played at 1:30 p.m. (St. PiusMoriarty) and 3:15 (Sandia PrepAlbuquerque Academy).

Tournament organizers hope the two semifinal winners and losers will agree to play thirdplace and championship games on Monday at 5:30 and 7 p.m. But unless they can find enough officials to cover those games, they may have to be postponed to a later date.

The other four teams in the field — Rehoboth, Hatch Valley, St. Michael’s and Robertson — may just get one more game, today in the consolation bracket.

Albuquerque was not the only city hindered by the weather. Tournaments in Capitan and Gallup were also impacted.