5A boys: Volcano Vista claims record fifth straight title

The Hobbs boys basketball dynasty of the late 1990s/early 2000s crossed paths, so to speak, with the Volcano Vista dynasty of the 2020s on Saturday night.

The scene was dripping with symbolism as the Hawks, at halftime, ran up the ramp and past the 2001 Eagles, who were set to be recognized between halves of the Class 5A state final.

Those Hawks darting up the ramp was them seizing the metaphorical torch.

Volcano Vista’s fifth consecutive Class 5A state boys basketball championship season was arguably the most impressive of the lot, as the top-seeded Hawks beat District 1-5A rival Cleveland 66-52 in the 5A title game Saturday night before about 7,000 fans at the Pit.

“Total reflection mode right now … I don’t know what happened in that game,” Hawks coach Greg Brown said. “These dudes are special.”

No school in the state’s largest boys division had ever won as many as five straight until Volcano Vista. Hobbs was the only other one with four, from 1999-2002. And only two boys programs — Albuquerque Academy 1989-94, and Hope Christian 2013-18 — have won six in a row overall.

Brown played for half of that Academy run, and now he’s coached this one. This is his 10th combined ring as a player and coach. He won three at Academy, one coaching Manzano, and now six coaching Volcano Vista.

This is also Brown’s seventh championship as a head coach, surpassing his late father Mike, who had those six at Academy.

“I learned from the best, my dad,” Greg said. “And there’s a lot of lessons being learned, and there’s a lot of hard work along the way. He always taught me, make sure you’re around the right people. Volcano Vista has a lot of right people.”

Volcano Vista (26-5) led for all but 14 seconds, the first 14 seconds. Houston Brown, the coach’s son, started the scoring with a 3, and off the Hawks went.

They had 14 of the game’s first 19 points, with Spirit Penn-Cook adding a 3. Leading 19-12 to start the second quarter, Volcano pulled away, outscoring the Storm 13-6.

Junior David Lunn’s emphatic one-handed dunk — to be fair, pretty much all of Lunn’s dunks meet this description — with 53 seconds to go before halftime had the Hawks in prime five-peat position, leading 32-18 at halftime.

“We had a bad second quarter,” Cleveland coach Zack Cole said.

The second-seeded Storm (26-7) did climb within six at 32-26 in the first two minutes of the third quarter on back-to-back Remy Albrecht 3-pointers. However, Volcano scored the next eight, with Spirit Penn-Cook scoring, then Eli Covell, Lunn on a drive and finish, and then Covell again for a 40-26 bulge midway through the quarter.

“We had some momentum,” Cole said. “You gotta play so well to keep momentum vs. Volcano.” 

Covell, nicknamed the “Big Smoothie,” added another double-double to his list, with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

“Goodness, he was big for us,” Greg Brown said.

Lunn scored 23 points to lead the Hawks, who have made the Pit a second home with sweeps in this building the last five seasons.

“It was something special,” Lunn said. “At the start of the year, it felt like we were really doubted, just knowing it was a new team. Some people had to step up and a lot of guys did that down the stretch.”

Volcano Vista shot an incredible 85.7% from the field in the second half, making 12 out of 14 field-goal attempts.  The Hawks shot 63.2% (24-for-38) for the game. They also outrebounded Cleveland, 34-17.

The Storm was also held to a season-low in points, although Cole said that was more a byproduct of his group not having a good night from the perimeter.

“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well tonight,” he said.

For example, he said, while Albrecht led the way with 28 points, he was the only player to make a 3-pointer. He had five of them.

None of the other Storm shooters, and there are several, had a single 3 in the championship game.

“Our team is built on shooters,” he said. “This is the first game that only one guy made a 3. And unfortunately, it was tonight.”

Saturday marked the sixth meeting of the teams this season. Volcano Vista went 4-2, and won the last three matchups.