It’s Brown vs. Brown for crown
Brothers lead Sandia, Volcano Vista to Class 5A boys semifinal wins
Carol Brown won’t be wearing Volcano Vista black on Saturday night. Nor will she be wearing Sandia red.
The Brown family matriarch will be in purple, as will her sons, Greg and Danny, brothers who are going to make history by squaring off for the Class 5A state championship.
The top two seeds in the playoffs, Greg Brown’s Volcano Vista Hawks and Danny Brown’s Sandia Matadors, were tested severely in Thursday’s semifinals at the Pit before finally squeaking into the 8 p.m. final on Saturday.
Sandia held off Los Lunas, while Volcano Vista may not even have been the best team on the floor in its semi against Organ Mountain, but the Hawks scored a late basket to advance.
Sandia, which is in the state final for the first time in 20 years, hasn’t won state since 1985. Volcano Vista is the defending champion and 3-0 this season against the Matadors.
“We’ve grown up competing with and against one another,” Greg Brown said. “I know he’s my brother, and I love him, but he’s gonna get our very best.”
No. 1 VOLCANO VISTA 48, No. 5 ORGAN MOUNTAIN 46:
Kenyon Aguino’s layup with 13.2 seconds left proved to be the game-winner for the Hawks (28-1), who trailed the tough and determined Knights (25-5) most of the way.
Volcano Vista turned over Organ Mountain in the backcourt three times in the final minute; the third of those steals, by Anthony Gonzales, led to a feed to Aguino for an easy goahead bucket.
“We’re not in a lot of games like that,” Gonzales said. “I feel like, coming back like that, especially in the last minute, felt different.”
Volcano missed a couple of free throws in the final 54 seconds, plus a relatively straightforward mid-range jumper.
But the Hawks put tremendous pressure on Organ Mountain, which didn’t have any timeouts to regroup and set up a press breaker.
“Maybe it was my fault and I had the wrong guys in the game,” Knights coach Rocky Gonzales said.
David Gutierrez did make a free throw for the Hawks to tie it at 46 with 15.7 seconds to go, and then Volcano Vista created the game’s decisive turnover.
Aguiho had 22 points, six rebounds and four assists for Volcano Vista. Gonzales added 12 points and four assists.
Brandon Kehres had 12 points and eight boards to lead the Knights. Aden Pacini added 10 points, and his last-second 3-pointer that would have won the game didn’t miss by much.
VOLCANO VISTA 48, ORGAN MOUNTAIN 46 ORGAN MOUNTAIN (25-5): Aden Pacini 3-8 3-3 10, Amaryon Bynum 1-3 0-0 3, Ethan Coomes 1-2 0-0 2, Yehnhi Wilson 3-7 2-3 8, Brandon Kehres 5-9 0-0 12, Bryan Gonzalez 1-4 0-0 2, Emmett McDaniel 1-1 0-0 2, Julian Gonzales 3-6 0-0 7, Trevon Del Ferraro 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Pack 0-1 0-0 0, Ray Venegas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-40 3-3 46. VOLCANO VISTA (28-1): Anthony Gonzales 4-7 2-2 12, Hudson Brown 1-3 0-1 3, Devon Ramos 1-4 0-0 3, Kenyon Aguino 9-12 4-7 22, Sean Alter 2-4 1-1 5, EJ Jordan 0-0 2-2 2, Rian Gonzales 0-3 0-0 0, David Gutierrez 0-2 1-2 1, Lazerik Hill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-35 10-15 48. Organ Mountain 15 6 16 9 — 46 Volcano Vista 9 9 15 15 — 48 3-point goals: OM 7-14 (Wilson 2-3, Kehres 2-2, Bynum 1-3, Pacini 1-3, Gonzales 1-1, Coomes 0-1, Gonzalez 0-1; VV 4-13 (Gonzales 2-5, Brown 1-1, Ramos 1-3, Gonzales 0-3, Gutierrez 0-1). Rebounds: OM 21 (Kehres 8); VV 21 (Aguino 6). Assists: OM 8 (Wilson 5);
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VV 9 (Gonzales, Aguino 4). Turnovers: OM 17; VV 14. Total fouls: OM 19; VV 11.
No. 2 SANDIA 49, No. 3 LOS LUNAS 45: There were two critical 10-0 runs in the second half for the Matadors (26-5), who trailed 16-15 at halftime.
“Snails,” Danny Brown said of the first-half pace and score, both of which were heavily in Los Lunas’ favor. “We were stagnant on offense.”
Sandia knew this was not sustainable if it wanted to reach Saturday night.
“We had to speed things up,” senior guard Andrew Hill said. And so Sandia did.
The first 10-0 run, in the third quarter, gave Sandia the lead for good. Hill, who led the Matadors with 15 points, had the final five of the quarter, and Sandia led 35-28 going to the fourth.
The second 10-0 run, in the middle portion of the fourth quarter, put Sandia ahead 45-30. Dalen Moyer and Ely Lovato both connected on 3-pointers in both runs.
The Tigers (25-7) didn’t go away. They staged a furious rally and got as close as two, but there were only sixthtenths of a seconds left after Jalin Holland’s 3-pointer.
Holland finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for Los Lunas.
For Danny Brown, Saturday will be his second time in the championship game. He took Highland there in 2009.