Del Norte and Bernalillo on Tuesday night played the longest boys high school basketball game in New Mexico this century.
The Knights and the Spartans needed five overtimes in a District 6-4A matchup before Del Norte eventually posted a 91-87 road victory.
“It was crazy,” Knights coach Jeron McIntosh said Wednesday. “I’ve never been part of a game that long.”
Pretty much nobody has. There hasn’t been a boys game of this duration in the state since Alamogordo and Santa Fe went five OTs in December 1986.
Only two boys games have lasted longer, according to New Mexico Activities Association records: Alamogordo-Mayfield, a six-OT game in 1996, and Cliff-Lordsburg, which went seven overtimes in January of 1986.
Individually, the stat of the night was this: Del Norte senior guard Shane Douma-Sanchez had two points through three quarters. The state’s leading scorer finished with 40. He and all the Knights were given Wednesday and Thursday off by McIntosh.
“When the game was over, the boys weren’t even rejoicing,” he said. “They were, like, it’s over. Finally.”
Bernalillo, meanwhile, has lost two multiple overtime games just in the last two weeks; the Spartans fell in two OTs to Valley on Jan. 27.
The girls’ OT record (nmact.org) is five, by Coronado and Mesa Vista almost exactly three years ago.
JOHNSON CHANGING JOBS: Tim Johnson was ready to retire from coaching. Curtis Flakes changed his mind.
The two men worked together coaching football at Albuquerque High in the mid-2010s, and now they’ll be reunited at St. Pius.
Johnson resigned as the AHS head coach on Tuesday, and will be taking on the offensive coordinator’s position at St. Pius, where Flakes was recently named the Sartans new head coach.
“I told Curtis, I’ll take it year by year,” Johnson, 49, said.
Johnson coached AHS for seven seasons; he succeeded Flakes with the Bulldogs. The two men coached at AHS in 2014 and 2015, with Flakes coming over from Manzano and Johnson from Volcano Vista. Johnson coached AHS from 2016 through last season.
Albuquerque High posted the vacancy Wednesday morning.
MORE 1,000: Sandia High sophomore guard Sydney Benally on Tuesday night reached 1,000 points in her short career with the Matadors.
Benally is the second sophomore in the city — following Eldorado’s Bella Hines — to reach that plateau this season.
Las Cruces High’s Emma Christiano also joined the 1,000-point club earlier this week.
NMMI ADDS 3 HAWKS: New Mexico Military Institute already had landed Volcano Vista linebacker Nathan Wallin in its recruiting class, and now NMMI has further plumbed the Volcano Vista roster for talent.
Quarterback Elliot Paskett-Bell, one of the state’s top QBs last season, is headed to Roswell. So are defensive end Marcus Perea and defensive back Gabriel Pino.
Los Lunas quarterback Paul Cieremans has accepted a preferred walk-on offer from New Mexico State.
THIS AND THAT: Highland has promoted Jason Schmidt, the Hornets’ junior varsity coach, to take over the Hornets’ outstanding boys soccer program. … Cibola softball player Hailey Francois has committed to Division I Siena University in Loudonville, New York. … Albuquerque Academy’s boys clinched the District 6-4A basketball title on Tuesday night with a 57-52 home win over Hope Christian.
