Cleveland finally finishes strong to beat Volcano

Atrisco rallies for key 4-6A victory

RIO RANCHO — How apropos that the calendar has rolled over to Groundhog Day for the Cleveland High School boys basketball team.

Because today, the Storm must feel like Bill Murray’s weatherman did at the end of the movie that bears the same name — waking up and realizing that indeed, it is finally the next day.

All season, Cleveland has been unable to close out games it was leading against the stronger teams on its schedule. It has been a nail jammed in its foot for over two months, one second-half struggle after another.

The narrative finally changed Thursday night.

Although the Storm nearly blew all of a 13-point lead in the second half, No. 5-ranked Cleveland this time finished in style, beating No. 4 Volcano Vista 74-65 in a District 1-6A showdown.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Cleveland coach Sean Jimenez said. “We needed one like this.”

This was not only a district win, but the Storm (157, 3-1) actually pulled into first place in 1-6A ahead of Volcano Vista (14-6, 3-1) because of the tiebreaker. These teams will meet in the second finale Feb. 16.

Moreover, Cleveland purged an awful memory. The last time it faced Volcano Vista, in the metro tournament semifinals a month ago, the Storm wasted a nine-point lead in the final three minutes and lost.

“We definitely matured a lot since the metro tournament,” said 6-foot-3 junior guard Jalen Munn. “It’s all chemistry. Our chemistry got better, and we started trusting people more.”

The Groundhog Day movie reference was not lost on Jimenez, who had watched similar endings play out time and again for his team this season, much to his consternation.

And when Cleveland, which led 47-34 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter, was down to a 58-57 lead with 2:34 left in the game, Jimenez was experiencing the worst kind of déjà vu.

“I was thinking that, too,” he said. “I love Groundhog Day. I thought, ‘It’s happening again.’”

Aamer Muhammed hit a key shot off the glass for the Storm with 1:41 to go that put it ahead 62-58 as the Hawks’ comeback eventually ran out of steam.

“Any loss is rough,” Munn said. “We’ve had a few games we let slip away.”

Cleveland took control of the game at the start of the second quarter, with Jakob Medina’s layup, and backto-back three-point plays — both directly off Volcano Vista turnovers — by Taylor Turner and Munn.

That turned a 13-11 deficit into a 19-13 lead, and Cleveland spent the rest of the game with various cushions. The lead was seven (31-24) at halftime, five (3126) early in the third quarter and that 13-point bulge after a layup by Tre Watson.

The Hawks were still down 10 at 58-48 midway through the fourth quarter before surging, led by Jalontae Gray who scored five straight to cut that deficit to 58-57.

“For about four minutes there,” Jimenez said, “we looked shaky. They stole a game from us (last month), and I’m just proud of them that we finished the game.”

Munn, meanwhile, put on what was possibly the best dunking exhibition of any boy in the metro area this season. He had four impressive dunks, and actually blew a wide-open fifth attempt.

Munn led Cleveland with 23 points.

Cleveland is back home tonight against Rio Rancho. The Rams (12-9, 2-1) had a 33-point fourth quarter against the Storm two Fridays ago and came from behind to beat Cleveland.

Gray had 15 points to lead the Hawks. Josh Parmenter, who torched the Storm for 39 points in the metro semis, was in foul trouble throughout and finished with just seven points before fouling out.

ATRISCO HERITAGE 55, VALLEY 54: At Atrisco Heritage, Enrique Bibian’s layup with 3 seconds left was the game-winner for the third-ranked Jaguars (18-2, 6-0 in District 4-6A) who all but clinched the 4-6A regular-season title.

The ninth-ranked Vikings (12-8, 4-2) led 40-29 after three quarters.