Valley, once 13-13, is 1 win from a crown
Vikings hit 10 3-pointers, hold off Silver in semifinal
Mediocre has transformed to magical in a hurry for the Valley Vikings.
Class 4A’s seventh-seeded Vikings, who lugged a 13-13 record into state-tournament play, pulled off their second upset in as many days Thursday. Valley hit 10 3-pointers and earned a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a nail-biting 53-50 victory over third-seeded Silver in Dreamstyle Arena.
It came less than 24 hours after the Vikings knocked off No. 2 seed Hope Christian. Not bad for a team that suffered an 89-42 home loss to Volcano Vista early in the season.
“It’s pretty much a brand-new group except for Derick (Chavez),” Valley coach Joe Coleman said. “It’s been ugly at times but these guys have worked really hard to get here. We just find ways to win.”
Valley’s late run will get the ultimate test against No. 1 Los Lunas in Saturday’s 4 p.m. state final in Dreamstyle Arena. The Tigers advanced by shutting down another longshot team Thursday night, defeating No. 12 Del Norte 77-60.
No. 7 VALLEY 53, No. 3 SILVER 50 : Patient offense and red-hot perimeter shooting proved a winning formula for the Vikings (16-13) as they built a double-digit lead and then held off the hard-charging Colts (24-5).
Chavez scored 19 points and hit four of Valley’s 10 3 pointers to help his team earn a spot in the final. The Vikings went 10-for19 from 3-point range, led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter and were up 41-27 early in the fourth. Freshman Mateo Hernandez hit all three of his shots, all 3s, including buzzer-beaters in the first and third quarters.
“I knew I had to get those shots up quick,” Hernandez said. “I’m glad I had the opportunity to help my team.”
Valley’s hot shooting was barely enough. Silver amped up its trapping defensive pressure over the final 14 minutes and nearly pulled off an epic comeback. Tristin Moore, who scored a team-high 15 points, swished a long 3 with 23 seconds left to get the Colts within two at 52-50.
Silver forced a turnover with 9.6 seconds remaining and appeared set to tie when Steven Cross got open under the basket on an inbounds play. But Valley’s Jevon Baker scrambled back to block Cross’ shot, and Moore missed a leaning 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“Valley’s physicality bothered us early,” Silver coach Brandon Siqueiros said. “We need to play with tempo and get in transition. Valley got us in an Albuquerque slugfest and that’s their game, not ours.”
No. 1 LOS LUNAS 77, No. 12 DEL NORTE 60: At Dreamstyle Arena, Zanen Zeller and the Tigers (27-3) put on an offensive clinic and the Cinderella Knights (16-14) simply ran out of magic.
Zeller finished one assist short of a tripledouble, racking up 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to help Los Lunas overwhelm Del Norte’s pressing defense. The Tigers shot 67 percent from the field in the game and hit a ridiculous 16 of 18 shots (89 percent) in the second half.
Asked about narrowly missing the tripledouble, Zeller smiled.
“If I win it’s nice to get,” he said, “but winning comes first.”
The Tigers, who will be appearing in their first state final since losing to Roswell in 2014, effectively locked up Thursday’s win in the second and third quarters. Del Norte led 18-14 after one quarter and stretched it to 20-14 on Johnathen Wilkens’ layup early in the second.
But Los Lunas answered with a 10-0 run and steadily built its lead from there. Zeller’s contested 3-pointer to beat the horn gave the Tigers a 36-28 advantage at halftime, and they almost never missed from that point on.
“You never expect to go 16 of 18 in a half,” Los Lunas coach Travis Julian said, “but you’ll take it any time you can get it.”