Boys prep basketball: Cleveland, Del Norte earn tough semifinal wins
May 7—CLASS 5A
The Class 5A boys basketball state championship game shouldn't lack for thrills.
No. 1 seed Cleveland and undefeated No. 3 Las Cruces won semifinal games on Thursday night, setting up a much-anticipated final at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Pit.
The defending state champion Bulldawgs (14-0) won 68-64 at No. 2 Roswell on Thursday, a game played without fans. In Rio Rancho, the Storm (13-1) had its hands full with shorthanded District 1 rival Atrisco Heritage before Cleveland came out with a 58-54 victory.
"It's about these players, our community, our administration," Cleveland coach Sean Jimenez said. "To get to the championship game ... I want these guys to be able to hold that blue trophy up for our community."
Atrisco Heritage was missing a crucial piece to its puzzle Thursday night, as senior guard Isaiah Brooks, who had 31 points on Tuesday in the quarterfinals against Sandia, was not in uniform.
"If he was able to go, he could go. I'll just say that," Atrisco coach Adrian Ortega said.
The Storm and Jaguars (9-3) were tied at 51 as the game entered the final two minutes.
Senior guard Nate Hasberry's lay-in with 1:56 remaining put Cleveland ahead for good, but it was the next basket that probably put the Storm over the top.
After a short miss by the Jaguars' Tony Pacheco, Evan Gonzales of the Storm found an open spot in the far corner and nailed a 3-pointer for a 56-51 lead with 1:22 to go.
"My teammates just did a great job finding me," said Gonzales, who finished with 13 points.
"Big-time shot," added Hasberry, who led the Storm with 17 points. "After that, we knew we were gonna come away with the win."
It was a spot on the floor that Ortega said later that he had been worried about.
"We talked about that in (a) timeout, actually," Ortega said. "The exact words were, 'If you give up that 3, you're not gonna play again.' I took a gamble, I 2-2-1'd them there, and he hit a big shot."
Chris Parra's 3 got Atrisco Heritage back within two with exactly 1 minute showing, but Tre Watson hit two free throws with 37 seconds left to seal it for Cleveland.
The Storm on Saturday will play in the state championship game for the third time. Cleveland lost in the finals to Hobbs in 2015 and to Atrisco Heritage in 2018.
Even without Brooks, Atrisco Heritage barely missed a beat, especially in the first half as junior guard Javier Mendoza went off for 20 points, including five 3-pointers.
"They always have good shooters," Hasberry said. "Without him, they're still a pretty good team."
Mendoza was blazing hot early, making 7 of 8 from the floor in the first half, including 5 of 5 from beyond the arc.
"We lost Mendoza a few times in the first half, and even when we did find him, when a guy gets hot he hits a couple in your eye," Jimenez said. "But in the second half, we did a better job."
Mendoza finished with a game-high 26 points. He had three field goals in the fourth quarter.
"Guard to win," Jimenez said. "That's been our motto, and I thought we did that better in the second half than we did the first half."
Cleveland's task on Saturday includes facing Las Cruces guard Deuce Benjamin, who might be the state's best player, and 6-foot-11 post Isaiah Carr.
"We're excited," Hasberry said. "This is a great team win ... we're ready, we're excited and we can't wait to kick butt."
Cleveland on Thursday avenged its only loss this season. The Jaguars beat the Storm on April 23.
NO. 1 CLEVELAND 58, NO. 4 ATRISCO HERITAGE 54
ATRISCO HERITAGE (9-3): Tony Pacheco 1-6 0-0 2, Javier Mendoza 10-13 1-1 26, Chris Parra 4-13 2-2 13, Deion Padilla 1-4 0-0 2, Aiden Platero 0-0 0-0 0, Malachi Crawford 4-7 1-1 9, Colby Wade 1-3 0-0 2. Toitals 21-46 4-4 54.
CLEVELAND (13-1): Tre Watson 4-10 5-6 13, Evan Gonzales 5-10 0-0 13, Lucas Lovato 1-4 0-0 3, Nate Hasberry 6-16 4-5 17, Cole Savage 1-2 0-0 3, Jeff Davison 1-2 0-0 2, Trey Ortega 0-1 0-0 0, Antonio Avila 3-5 1-2 7, Josia Ortiz 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-52 10-13 58.
Atrisco Heritage 13 16 11 14 — 54
Cleveland 10 19 12 17 — 58
3-point goals: AH 8 (Mendoza 5, Parra 3); C 6 (Gonzales 3, Lovato, Hasberry, Savage). Total fouls: AH 12; C 9.
— James Yodice
CLASS 4A
NO. 1 DEL NORTE 58, NO. 4 Española VALLEY 51 (OT): All season long, the Knights rode the shooting and playmaking of their sophomore perimeter players to the top seed in Class 4A.
However, it was the unlikely contribution from another underclassman in overtime that helped propel host Del Norte (11-1) to Saturday's championship game. Sophomore Roman Hileman scored his only four points on a pair of mid-range jumpers in the extra session — the second of which gave the Knights to a 54-51 lead with 1:36 remaining — and his team put the clamps on the Sundevils (10-4) down the stretch in a semifinal game Thursday night.
Hileman, who spent most of the season on the junior varsity, was calm and collected in a pressure-packed situation.
"I just knew I had to take the shot because it was wide open, and it's what we do in practice. I know I'd get yelled at if I didn't take the shot," he said.
While Del Norte coach Jeron McIntosh said after the game that it was Hileman's first points of any kind at the varsity level, the player disputed that claim. Regardless of the difference in record-keeping, McIntosh felt confident having Hileman on the court in a critical moment.
"He's been working hard in practice," McIntosh said. "And then he's been playing JV all year and just been killing it on JV. We knew we had to give him an opportunity."
The Knights' sophomore guard trio of Shane Douma-Sanchez (21 points), Estevan DeVargas (12) and Judah Casaus (10) did much of the heavy lifting prior to overtime to keep Del Norte in the game against a tenacious Española Valley squad. The Sundevils pressured the Knights consistently as a chippy first half resulted in both teams reaching the double-bonus early in the second period. Douma-Sanchez feasted at the line and scored 16 of his points in the opening half as the score was tied at 26 after two quarters.
Española began the second half on an 11-0 run behind a pair of 3s from Jordan Duda to take a 37-26 lead with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter. DeVargas countered with six consecutive points of his own for Del Norte and from there, neither team led by more than five until the final seconds of overtime.
Del Norte held the ball for the final 1:38 of regulation, but Douma-Sanchez was unable to convert an extremely difficult underhand scoop on a drive to the basket as time expired. That ultimately proved to be little more than a footnote.
"I don't even know what to say about it," McIntosh said of reaching the title game. "This has been the goal for the last five years." — Tristen Critchfield
DEL NORTE 58, ESPANOLA VALLEY 51, OTat Del Norte
ESPANOLA VALLEY (10-1): Ricky Padilla 7, Garrett May 10, Jordan Duda 15, Joshua Coriz 3, Anthony Law 5, Melaki Jones 4, Ollie Fell 7. FG 12. FT 12-22
DEL NORTE (11-1): Estevan DeVargas 12, Judah Casaus 10, Josh Tellez 6, Feathers Valencia 3, Roman Hileman 4, Xavier Evans 2, Shane Douma-Sanchez 21. FG 10. FT 17-20.
Espanola 12 14 15 8 2—51
Del Norte 11 15 10 13 9—58
3-pointers: E 4 (May, Duda 3), DN 7 (Vargas 3, Casaus, Valencia, Douma-Sanchez 2). Fouled out: DN (Evans).
CLASS 1A
If you happen to know Joren Mirabal personally, here's some advice:
Call him on Friday. Or anytime this weekend.
Call him multiple times. He won't mind.
"As soon as we lost that game last year, I took a picture of the red trophy and put it on my screen saver on my phone," Mirabal said. "I can't tell you how excited I am to go into that locker room and change that screen saver."
About 14 months after Magdalena came into the Pit as an undefeated team and lost in the state finals to Pecos, the Steers, who dropped down a classification since they were last seen up here, returned to Albuquerque on Thursday afternoon.
Mirabal, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, had a team-best 22 points — all in the first three quarters — as the top-seeded Steers won the Class 1A state championship, 56-43 over No. 2 Melrose in a showdown of unbeatens.
For Magdalena (15-0), it is the school's first blue trophy since 2015.
And the photo of the blue trophy was soon to be installed as the new screen saver in Mirabal's phone.
"I've been waiting 14 months to do it," he said. "I hated getting on my phone. Every time I opened it, I saw that red trophy."
The Steers dominated the middle two quarters Thursday, which was the difference. Magdalena outscored Melrose (13-1) 34-16 in the second and third quarters.
It was an 8-0 run to close the first half, after the game was tied 20-20, that turned things in the Steers' favor. Mirabal nailed two 3s and a mid-range jumper for a 28-20 lead going up the ramp.
"That was a big moment," admitted Melrose coach Kevin Lackey, whose Buffaloes were searching for a fourth consecutive state title. "It was a tough way to end the first half."
His senior post, Tate Sorgen, dominated in the first quarter, scoring all 11 points for Melrose. He finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds, but was held to five combined points in those pivotal middle two quarters.
"The biggest thing was," Lackey said, "we had a hard time handling the pressure in those two quarters, where we couldn't get into the half-court offense and get him the ball as much. It was more us not handling our keys."
In the third quarter, a 3 from Isaac Lopez and a three-point play by Mirabal extended the Steers to a 34-22 lead. Late in the quarter, Joshua Baca's 3-pointer had Magdalena in command, leading 45-25.
Melrose had a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter and pulled within 10 at 49-39 with 2:46 remaining, but got no closer.
"It's just hard," said Sorgen, fighting back tears under his mask. "As a senior, I really thought that we could come in here and do it. Mag proved to be the better team today. All credit to them. They're an amazing team."
And the Steers will return most everyone from this group next season.
"A feeling we'll remember forever," said Magdalena coach Jory Mirabal, who added, "The thing I'm most proud of this group, they played within themselves. Everyone had a role and they lived within that role and it magnified everyone else's role on the team."
Coach Mirabal even did something that probably would seem radical prior to tipoff, ashe contemplated the contrast in styles between his team's up-tempo preference and Melrose's bruising inside game led by Sorgen.
"Right before we took the floor," he said, "I told these guys, 'All that stuff we worked on in practice yesterday, throw all that in the trash. We're gonna be who we're gonna be. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But we're gonna go out there and be us and try to be the best version of who we are.' "
Kael Stephens added 13 points and six rebounds for Magdalena.
NO. 1 MAGDALENA 56, NO. 2 MELROSE 43
MELROSE (13-1): Michael Cardonita 0-3 0-0- 0, Logan DeVaney 0-1 0-0 0, Devon Bailey 3-8 3-4 9, Trace Jackson 1-9 0-1 2, Tate Sorgen 10-18 6-10 26, Brandon Garcia 2-7 0-0 6, Troy May 0-0 0-0 0, Kayden Cones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-46 9-15 43.
MAGDALENA (15-0): Joren Mirabal 8-14 3-3 22, Isaac Lopez 2-6 0-0 5, D'Shaun Vinyard 0-5 2-2 2, Joshua Baca 2-9 3-4 8, Mason Greenwood 1-6 1-2 3, Kael Stephens 5-9 2-3 13, Joseph Zamora 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 19-52 12-16 56.
Melrose 11 9 7 16 — 43
Magdalena 11 17 17 11 — 56
3-point goals: Mel 2-15 (Garcia 2-5, Jackson 0-7, Cardonita 0-2, Sorgen 0-1); Mag 6-19 (Mirabal 3-5, Lopez 1-3, Stephens 1-3, Baca 1-5, Vinyard 0-2, Zamora 0-1). Field-goal percentages: Mel 34.8%; Msg 36.5$. Rebounds: Mel 36 (Sorgen 14); Mag 34 (Vinyard 8). Assists: Mel 9 (DeVaney 5); Mag 12 (Baca 7). Turnovers: Mel 19; Mag 10. Total fouls: Mel 13; Mag 15. Steals: Mel 4 (Sorgen 2); Mag 11 (Baca 4). Blocked shots: Mel 6 (Sorgen 3); Mag 1 (Stephens).
— James Yodice
— James Yodice
Class 5A BOYS (with bracket)
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Class 1A BOYS bracket
