Taos routs West Las Vegas in statement win
In the muddled mess that is District 2-4A boys basketball, a potential front-runner may have appeared.
The Taos Tigers made a statement Saturday evening, holding West Las Vegas to just 18 first-half points and went on to a 65-48 win in a battle of district foes that doubled as the third-place game of the Albuquerque Hope Christian Tournament. With the win, the Tigers and Dons both have the best record of any 2-4A team at 9-9.
But the Tigers showed a defensive tenacity that gave West Las Vegas fits. They took a 7-0 lead barely a minute in and grew it to 12-0 at one point. The Dons finally got on track, but never could get close enough to worry Taos, which led 36-18 at the half.
The Dons adjusted by looking for forward Steve Sandoval in the post, who had 10 points in the second half and 20 for the game. However, Taos outscored West Las Vegas 20-16 in the third quarter to build the margin to 55-33.
“They did a really good job defending us,” Dons head coach Clyde Sanchez said. “They played hard and did a good job mixing things up against us.”
Abduhl Khweiss led the Tigers with 25 points, while John Balizan had 11 in a supporting role for West Las Vegas.
Taos begins its district run Tuesday against Pojoaque Valley, while the Dons play Las Vegas Robertson on Friday.
MONTE DEL SOL 75, RATON 70
The Dragons used a 23-11 scoring run in the second quarter to take a 38-22 halftime lead, but the Tigers chipped away in the seventhplace game of the Lion Classica at Santa Rosa.
Raton was within 50-39 entering the fourth quarter, and outscored Monte del Sol 32-25 the rest of the way. Santi Archuleta led the Dragons (10-6) with 27 points, Isaiah Salazar added 17, Peter Lujan scored 14 and Jonathan Hodges had 10.
GIRLS POJOAQUE VALLEY 68, THOREAU 38
It’s hard to play with the sun in your eyes, and the Elkettes dealt with that in an afternoon nondistrict road game against the Lady Hawks.
That partially explained the 29-14 halftime lead for Pojoaque.
“The place is hard to play in the day,” Elkettes head coach Seledon Martinez said. “There is a glare on our end of the court that was really bad. You had to lift up your hand to cover your eyes.”
The Elkettes (14-1) picked up the pace in the third quarter, outscoring Thoreau 24-16 to take a 53-30 lead into the fourth quarter. Michaela Martinez had a team-high 15 points, while the inside duo of Shania Thronas and Ashten Martinez had 14 and 13, respectively. Christen Martinez had 11 points for the Lady Hawks (3-12) and Shania Becenti added 10.
LAS VEGAS ROBERTSON 54, CAPITAL 15
The Lady Cardinals were hitting on all cylinders in their tune-up for the 2-4A season, much to the Lady Jaguars’ chagrin. Robertson had a 19-4 lead after a quarter when it pitched a shutout in the second quarter and upped the advantage to 41-4 at the half.
Robertson (14-3) travels to Santa Fe to play St. Michael’s on Wednesday to open district play, while Capital (8-10) turns to 2-5A competition with a matchup at Albuquerque Del Norte on Thursday.