SEMIS TODAY
Three area teams remain in basketball championship semifinals delayed by weather
Volcano Vista’s boys, Rio Rancho’s boys and West Mesa’s girls will all be playing today in the semifinals of the Albuquerque Metro Basketball Championships.
That’s because weather erased Friday’s schedule and pushed the tournament back a day.
The 10th-seeded Hawks, after upsets of Atrisco Heritage and Cleveland, meet No. 11 Sandia at 6 p.m. today at Del Norte. The Rams, seeded fifth, beat Del Norte and No. 4 Eldorado to reach the semis, where they will face No. 1 seed Albuquerque High at 4 this afternoon at Del Norte.
On the girls side, the third-seeded Mustangs, who beat Manzano and Cibola in earlier rounds, take on No. 2 Eldorado in the semifinals at 2 p.m. today at Del Norte.
The third-place games and championship games are now Monday at Cibola (boys, 5 and 7 p.m.) and Sandia (girls, also 5 and 7 p.m.).
Valley’s boys, Volcano Vista’s girls, Rio Rancho’s girls and Cibola’s girls also reached the quarterfinals before being knocked back into the consolation bracket.
Vikings guard Anthony Chavez had one of the week’s best games, with 32 points in a first-round win over La Cueva. But Valley fell in the quarterfinals to AHS.
Volcano Vista, following a first-round win over Atrisco Heritage, lost the next night in the quarters to Eldorado. Cibola dispatched Del Norte in the first round, then fell 40-32 to the Mustangs on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
Rio Rancho’s girls suffered possibly the toughest loss of the week, blowing a 13-point lead in the second half to La Cueva before losing 46-45 in the quarterfinals. The Rams already have suffered three, 1-point losses this season.
St. Pius’ girls defeated Robertson 37-33 on Thursday in the first round of the Sandia Prep tournament. The Sartans were to play Moriarty on Friday in the semifinals, but that game was pushed back to 1:30 p.m. today because of the early morning snowstorm on Friday.
Bosque School’s girls (5-4) lost 37-30 to Santa Rosa on Thursday in the first round of the Bean Valley Invite in Estancia.
TOP PERFORMERS: From this week’s metro tournament, here were some of the other individual highlights from the first two rounds:
Volcano Vista’s boys had two players — David Cormier and Jalontae Gray — post double-doubles in a 69-60 quarterfinal upset of the Storm on Wednesday. Cormier had 26 points, Gray 18 points, and both grabbed 10 rebounds.
Cibola’s Desmond Carpenter had 24 points in the Cougars’ loss on Tuesday to Sandia.
Eloy Medina drained four 3s and finished with 22 points for West Mesa in a loss to Atrisco Heritage on Wednesday.
Esperanza Varoz scored 21 points for West Mesa’s girls in the win over Cibola.
LAST WEEK: A few tournaments around the state were held between Christmas and New Years.
Volcano Vista’s girls defeated Bloomfield 41-34 in the championship game of the Village of Los Lunas tournament. The Hawk boys dropped a 50-45 decision in the final to the host Tigers.
Rio Rancho’s boys fell in the final of the Rams’ Holiday Hoops Classic to Oñate.
HOOP NOTES: After Bosque School’s boys finally got their first win on Dec. 17, that left only the Bernalillo girls searching for their first victory. The Spartans (1-14) finally got it Thursday night, beating Santa Fe Prep 60-1. … Cleveland’s girls, who met Valley on Friday in the metro tournament consolation bracket, were on an eight-game skid prior to facing the Vikings. Valley’s girls, meanwhile, started the season 0-5, but collected two victories last week at Alamogordo’s tournament. … Cibola’s girls still hope to get junior guard Amaya Brown back on Jan. 19, the district opener at Cleveland, but a sure date will likely be established after a doctor’s visit on Jan. 17. … There is an intriguing boys Class 5A nondistrict game today at 3:30 at St. Pius between the Sartans and visiting Roswell High. … Cleveland’s boys started 7-0, but are 3-4 in their last seven games before the Storm met Hope Christian on Friday night in the consolation bracket of the metro event.
Wrestling
The annual Joe Vivian Classic is next weekend, and it has a new venue: Volcano Vista High.
Cibola, West Mesa, Valley and Volcano Vista will be among the schools in the field.
But neither Rio Rancho nor Cleveland will participate. The Rams this weekend are in Geary, Okla., and they have a scheduled off week next weekend. The Storm are in Moriarty for duals today, and are traveling to Tucson, Ariz., for a meet next weekend.
On Tuesday of this week, both Rio Rancho and Cleveland traveled to Farmington for a three-team dual with 6A’s newest member, wrestling powerhouse Piedra Vista.
The Panthers defeated Rio Rancho in a tiebreaker after the teams tied at 34 (PV won the tiebreak because it won eight of the 14 matches), while Cleveland won the first three individual matches and routed Piedra Vista 48-17.
Over the holidays, Ram wrestler Ryan Rochford, one of the state’s top wrestlers, reached the finals in the 152-pound bracket at the Tournament of Champions in Reno, Nev., which is one of the top prep tournaments in the country. Rochford was seeded third.