A hot start and an aggressive finish weren’t quite enough to atone for Cleveland’s midgame breakdown Thursday night against Gallup.
In a nondistrict boys basketball game in Rio Rancho, the host Storm suffered yet another inconsistent performance, falling to the Bengals 68-64. The loss dipped Cleveland to 6-10 heading into tonight’s trip to No. 4 Clovis.
“Our basketball IQ has to get better,” Cleveland coach Brian Smith said. “I saw some positives (Thursday), but we have to put four quarters together. That’s been a problem all year.”
Against the Bengals (6-7), the second quarter marred the rest of the night. Cleveland had seven turnovers in the period to go with seven points (on 3-of-19 shooting) as it lost all momentum from a dazzling start.
Kyle Quintana had 12 of his team-high 21 points in the game’s first 6 1/2 minutes, helping Cleveland build an early 21-14 lead. But the Storm went cold and became frantic, taking quick shots and making ill-advised passes. The hosts trailed 33-28 at intermission and had to play from behind for all of the third quarter.
Desmond Branch’s energized performance gave Cleveland a chance in a seesaw fourth quarter but the Bengals had a late 8-2 run to seal the win.
Gallup’s big-bodied center Patrick Whitman — who tormented the Storm in the paint — went 4-for-5 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and added two field goals in the period to finish with a game-high 23 points.
Smith found the silver lining in the defeat, citing his team’s effort and the play of Branch, a 6-3 sophomore the coach said has brought a winning attitude over from football.
“We’re still learning,” Smith said. “I don’t like the losing, but I saw a lot of good things that came out of tonight.”
Branch came off the bench to score 11 points — nine in a fourth quarter that featured three ties and six lead changes. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
The sophomore said that although Cleveland has struggled to put together a complete game, he’s encouraged that even just two good quarters have been enough to keep the Storm in most of its games. Six of the Storm’s 10 defeats have been by seven or fewer points, and that includes losses to top-ranked Las Cruces and No. 9 Valley.
“I just think that we just need to regroup as a team. If you looked at our record, we’ve lost all our really close games, (but) it’s just a little few things we can fix,” Branch said. “We played Las Cruces good, and they’re one of the best teams in the state. We lost to them by seven. It’s just the littlest things (that need to be fixed).”
The road will not be getting easier any time soon for Cleveland. After Clovis, the Storm has three nondistrict games against top-10 competition (Sandia, La Cueva, Manzano) before league play starts Jan. 31.
♦ Rio Rancho’s boys play host to Mayfield at 7 p.m. today. The Rams are at No. 5 La Cueva on Tuesday night.
♦ Bernalillo, ranked No. 6 in Class 4A, lost 71-63 on Thursday night at Belen. The Spartans (10-6) were called for five technical fouls in the fourth quarter, including two on head coach Terry Darnell.
Darnell must sit out tonight’s home game against Aztec as a one-game penalty.
Brandon Saiz had 27 points and Tristan Arnett had 13 in the loss for Bernalillo.
♦ Rio Rancho’s girls won their third straight game, beating Highland 48-41 on Thursday night. No further information was available. The Rams visit Gadsden at 5:30 this afternoon, and are home to Valley at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
♦ Cleveland’s girls, off since Jan. 7, return to the court Tuesday night at home against Sandia.
♦ Bernalillo’s girls met Las Vegas Robertson late Friday.
