Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Defensive effort leads Santa Fe High to Bobby Rodriguez Capital City Tournament title | Sports

Zack Cole has seen good defensive performances from his Santa Fe High Demons but he was beaming on Saturday night.

In the three days of the Bobby Rodriguez Capital City Tournament, the Santa Fe High defense got better and better. The best was saved for the tournament championship game when the Demons forced two goalless droughts and 24 turnovers to Española Valley (4:25) for the tournament title at a bustling Toby Roybal Memorial High School.

It wasn’t a night of perfection on the defensive, but the Demons (4-0) pursued and put pressure on the Sundevils, a legitimate Class 4A contender.

Española suffered from two droughts that combined 16 minutes and 28 seconds of goalless basketball. The Sundevils were only 2 for 17 from the perimeter and hit only nine out of 40 shots in total.

In the second half, however, it took an 18-0 run over a 9:49 route before the Demons were finally able to break away from an equally defensive Española squad. Cole said it reiterates his belief that defense is the cornerstone of any good program, and his team has adjusted to it.

“This group got attached to it for some reason,” said Cole. “It’s just the effort they put in. They make mistakes and we left a couple of threesomes open in the corner because we weren’t communicating, but we’re exhausted and have never played in front of such a large audience.

“But they are learning experiences.”

One thing the demons learned was that the crowd can be an ally. That happened in the middle of the third quarter when senior striker Paul “PJ” Lovato collected a steal under the Española basket and raced from coast to coast to a dunk that shook the student department alive.

The game gave Santa Fe High a 27-20 lead and started the crucial run.

“Since our first game, I’ve been waiting for one of those dunks to happen,” said the 6-foot-3 Lovato. “I know when I get one of those dunks it just energizes our team. I have the feeling that when the crowd increases, the energy for the other team decreases. “

That had a similar effect with the Sundevils (4-1), because they missed 15 straight shots and turned the ball four times during this distance. They even missed a pair of free throws when Melakhi Jones missed two 19 seconds after the fourth, the second not even hitting the iron.

Santa Fe High Senior Guard Elijah Apodaca said the demons’ ability to use various types of presses made the Española guards uncomfortable and forced them to make bad decisions.

“We were just trying to confuse them a little,” said Apodaca. “We could only get some good shots of it.”

Lovato seemed to benefit most from these opportunities. He got eight points in the first quarter for four blocks as he often lined up for layups. He also controlled the glass at 12 rebounds and had five blocks.

His championship game performance put the finishing touches to a tournament MVP performance. It was necessary as the demons sometimes fought on the offensive, especially with ball maintenance.

They lost 11 balls in the first half, which helped the Sundevils overcome a goalless stretch of 6:50 in the second quarter. Santa Fe High, trailing 12-11 on a quarter, was only leading 20-11 when Sundevils center Ollie Fell tossed a baseline dunk 1:10 remainder in the half.

Española crept up to 20-17 at halftime after Ricky Padilla completed a three-point game about 30 seconds before break.

“Española has really active hands,” said Cole. “You can get past them, but when you get the ball in ‘The House’ – the painted area – they are active and digging and scratching and poking at balls. It took a while to catch up and grasp that. I think we did a better job in the second half. “

third place

Taos 67, capital 59Four days after the Jaguars mistreated the Tigers behind 12 3-pointers, Taos responded with a vastly improved performance, finishing third.

Capital (3-2) got 10 3s for the game but couldn’t force that much turnover. The Tigers backcourt of Matthew Mondragon and Isaih Jeantete combined for 26 points, with Jeantete scoring 10 to give Taos a 27:25 lead at halftime.

Daemon Ely led the Tigers (2-2) with 19 points. Capital’s Isaac Ortega scored six triples for 22 points and Anthony Alvez added 20.

fifth place

Los Alamos 82, Santa Fe Indian School 44The Hilltoppers won the consolation title thanks to a 52-point breakout in the first half and took the lead with 52:25. Niko Garcia scored eleven of his 17 points in the opening quarter for Los Alamos (3-1), while Joshua Watson had eight of his twelve after the break. Mark Cleland had 14 points and Elijah Ortiz 12 for the Hilltoppers.

SFIS (3-3) led Leighton Galvan with 18 points, and Owen Pecos added 10.

Seventh place

Valencia 40, St. Michaels 33The Horsemen’s offensive battles continued as they only managed two points in the third quarter. The good news was that the Jaguars also took two points but were fourth at 27:15.

Ali Abdullah and Richie Baca led Valencia (2-3) with 13 points. In the Horsemen (0-4) Marcos Gonzales scored 16 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter.

Comments are closed.