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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Monarchs Toppled In Triple OT

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    The Manzano High boys basketball team fought tooth and nail for 44 minutes.
    But in the end, sixth-seeded Las Cruces Mayfield eliminated the No. 11 Monarchs 78-74 in triple overtime during their state Class 5A first-round game on the Trojans' court Saturday.
    Manzano sophomore Kyle Lantz had 22 points, and his teammate, senior Isaac Dow, contributed 20.
    "It is disappointing," said Dow, an Edgewood resident. "But life goes on, I guess."
    The Monarchs' other scorers included Ryan Gesiakowski (eight), Mark Tenorio (seven), Jordan Burd (six), Jordan Llamas (four), Darrelyn McCloud (four) and Sam Andazola (three).
    Burd also lives in Edgewood.
    "We had two starters foul out (Burd and Tenorio) in overtime," Dow said.
    Manzano (18-12) wrapped up its season. Mayfield (18-8) advanced to the state quarterfinals.
    "It came down to their pressure," Monarchs coach Travis Julian said. "It affected us in the third quarter. We had been up 12, 13 points at one point. We let them get back into it."
    It also was the final prep game for Manzano seniors Jesse Paulsen and Thomas Mayfield.
    "It was pretty exciting," said Paulsen of Sandia Park. "In the beginning, we started out real good. Kyle Lantz hit our first 11 points, and our defense was holding them."
    Julian is caught in a hoops twilight zone, still looking back on the 2007-08 season while looking forward to next year.
    "I think we could be a very good team next year," he said. "But that's not to take away from this year's seniors. As a first-year coach, I was lucky to have someone like Isaac Dow. Players like that don't come around every year. He often literally willed us to win.
    "And Mayfield was such a selfless player, and Paulsen is a talented athlete. He improved a lot this year."
    The Mustang boys and girls were confronted with an unenviable task.
    The two teams, runners-up in District 7-1A, had to go on the road to meet the Cliff boys and girls, both ranked No. 1, for their state Class 1A first-round games.
    The Cowboys (28-0) tamed the Mountainair boys 68-32 on Saturday. Victor Romero paced the 'Stangs with 13 points.
    Mountainair (15-14) tied it up at one juncture during the first half before Cliff surged for a 10-point lead at the half.
    "We were pretty confident going into the second half," Mustangs boys coach Kenneth Branch said. "We'd been a second-half team. But Cliff came out shooting. Their leading scorer (Jerett Mendenhall) had 20 points. He started hitting in the third."
    Branch is proud of his boys.
    "We are losing our leaders (Romero and Mathew Chavez)," Branch said. "They also led them to a state football championship. But we had some juniors, sophomores and even some freshmen step up this year. They could be our leaders next year."
    Cliff's Cowgirls (26-2) defeated the Lady Mustangs 74-22 on Friday.
    "The girls did well," Mountainair coach Dwayne Roberts said. "Like I told the girls, 'They're just a better team.' My goal was just to go down there and play well and see what happens. And the girls did good."
    The 'Stangs (12-17) were led by Brooke Roybal, who had six points. The team loses one senior, Shanlyn Hazen.
    "I think it's going to get better," Roberts said. "We've got some good young talent."