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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Mustangs Qualify For State Playoffs

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    Let's go with the good news first.
    The Mountainair High boys and girls basketball teams loped past Hondo Valley in the District 7-1A tournament semifinals on Feb. 27 at the Mustangs' gym. The victories propelled the Mustangs to the district championship game and qualified them for the Class 1A state playoffs.
    Both local teams won handily versus the Eagles of Lincoln County. The girls, who split with Hondo during the regular season, beat the Eagles 58-36.
    "I had Elena (Chavez) and Shanlyn (Hazen) sitting on the bench a long time (in foul trouble), and we still did it," Lady Mustangs coach Dwayne Roberts said. "I'm proud of the other girls for not letting Hondo get back into it while they were out."
    Eight Mountainair girls scored. They were Chavez (16), Brooke Roybal (12), Hazen (10), Shayna Padilla (eight), Simone Roybal (six), Alysha Archuleta (three), Andrea Roberts (two) and Lesley Kingston (one).
    Stephanie Gomez had 10 points for Hondo.
    "I think we played them better down there (in a 61-39 win on Feb. 9)," said Chavez, a 5-foot-9 junior. "But the first time we didn't even really play (during a 36-35 home loss on Feb. 2). Now, we're feeling a lot better. We're more consistent than we were."
    The sole negative for the Lady Mustangs was their 9-of-38 performance from the free-throw line. The Eagles were 15-of-31.
    The Mustangs boys defeated Hondo 71-48.
    "It is the biggest win (of the season)," Mountainair coach Kenneth Branch said. "They've worked hard. They deserve it. We finally had a good first half. When we do that, we're tough to stop."
    The Mustangs scorers were Estevan Nuñez (18), Mathew Chavez (15), Joey Lovato (11), Victor Romero (nine), Salvador Sisneros (nine), Reuben Torrez (seven) and Kyler Silva (two).
    Raymond Montaño paced the Eagles with 19 points.
    Nuñez, the backup point guard behind Romero, led the team after both Romero (with 5:47 left) and Chavez (at about the 4:30 mark) fouled out in the fourth quarter. Nuñez— with a two-handed push from well above the top of the key— also hit a contested 3-pointer with a half second left in the third quarter for a 49-33 lead.
    "I just had to step up and show what I could do," said the 5-11, 140-pound junior. "I had to be a leader. That's about it."
    Mountainair won a war of attrition. Hondo's Lawrence Gonzales (5:28), Rico Lopez (3:30), Patrick Gonzales (2:19) and Gilbert Salcido (14.3 seconds) also fouled out in the final stanza, and the Eagles finished the game with four players on the floor.
    The Mustangs boys and girls had dreams of beating Carrizozo in Friday's district championship games. To win was important because otherwise, as the 7-1A runner-up, they would have to travel to meet the top-ranked Cliff boys and girls for state Class 1A first-round games.
    But a district title wasn't in the cards. The Grizzlies defeated the Mountainair boys 50-45, and the Carrizozo girls edged the Lady 'Stangs 50-47.
    "We did all right (vs. the Grizzlies)," Branch said in a telephone interview Saturday as he headed south to scout Cliff's Cowboys. "We missed a lot of free throws, but we played great defense. And we had a chance to win it. We were pretty much in it the whole way."
   
Moriarty girls
    In a huge upset, No. 10 Del Norte (13-16) upset the third-ranked Lady Pintos 36-33 in the District 5-4A tournament semifinals at John B. Salvo Gym on Feb. 27.
    "We didn't shoot well in the first quarter," Moriarty coach Joe Bailey said. "We worked hard, our effort was there. But in the first quarter, we dug ourselves a hole. The shots just didn't fall."
    Pintos juniors Brandi and Kristin Valencia scored 10 and 9 points, respectively. Knight Tyonna Spikes had a game-high 16.
    "I knew we'd come back," Bailey said. "We took a lead with a minute, 30 seconds left, but it's hard to come back after getting beat 14-2 in the first quarter."
    Moriarty (22-4) outscored Del Norte 11-9, 7-4 and 13-9 in the remaining periods. But it wasn't enough to catch the upstart Knights.
    The Pintos previously defeated Del Norte 37-23 on Feb. 1 and 39-25 on Feb. 19.
    "Del Norte's a good team," Bailey said. "Their record is deceiving. In the first semester, they didn't have the girls they have now because of injuries and eligibility issues. Spikes, who's a transfer from Cibola, couldn't play until this semester. She's their best player."
    Moriarty, selected as the fourth seed on Sunday, will host No. 13 Aztec in a state Class 4A first-round game on Friday. Second-seeded St. Pius, the 5-4A champion, is on the opposite side of the brackets from the Pintos.
    The state 4A quarterfinals will be played Tuesday at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho.