Albuquerque Academy is big and physical and is making noise

Among the roster of Class 4A boys basketball teams in New Mexico, few of them tipped off the 2024-25 season with more glaring question marks than the Albuquerque Academy Chargers.

“We really didn’t know what we had,” new coach Alvin Broussard said.

This was an extremely guard-heavy group the last couple of seasons, and in fact, Academy’s top three scorers a year ago all were senior guards.

During the offseason, the Chargers also changed coaches, with former Sandia coach Broussard coming aboard for what amounted, on several levels, to a rebuild.

This rebuild is going quite well.

Friday night, Academy, a big and physical team ranked seventh in 4A, came into Hope Christian and beat the fourth-ranked Huskies, 54-49, to solidify itself atop the District 6-4A standings.

The Chargers (13-6) are 2-0 in league play. Hope is 10-8, 1-1.

“Nobody thought we’d be here right now,” Academy senior forward Eli Dominguez said. “I think it’s showing how much we have come together as a team.”

The 6-foot-4 Dominguez had a game-best 27 points for the Chargers, whose size and bulk and physicality were simply too much for the Huskies, who didn’t have an answer either for Dominiguez, or the 6-10 Hunter Aime who scored 11 points and whose length was problematic for Hope.

“They really didn’t,” Broussard said, “and I think teams are gonna have to figure that out.”

Following a close first half, Dominguez’s offensive rebounding and finishing skills around the basket led to 10 third-quarter points. Two drives by 6-3 junior Jadon Olson, one to end the third quarter, and the other to start the fourth, had Academy in front by 11, 46-35.

The Huskies chipped away, and were down only one, 50-49, with 4:25 to go. They didn’t score again. They had one chance to go in front, and two other chances to tie, but couldn’t buy a basket down the stretch.

Aime had five of his 11 in the fourth quarter, but he rebounded and kept a couple of possessions alive with his frame. It’s a trait Dominguez clearly already possesses. He was relentless on the offensive glass, leading to second-chance points.

“That’s just Eli being Eli,” Broussard said. “He’s been like that all season. He has a motor and he has a knack for the ball and he has a knack for scoring.”

Academy partially avenged a loss to the Huskies last month.

“We know what it’s like playing at Hope. It’s a small gym, it’s loud, it’s a tough place to play,” Dominguez said.

But the Chargers, Dominguez added, stood tall — figuratively speaking — late.

“That’s what we do,” he said. “Over the last (few) games, we’ve been really good in the fourth quarter. That’s what we’re gonna hold ourselves to. We’re gonna be a team that doesn’t fold in the fourth quarter.”

It’s this type of team-wide attitude, Broussard said, that has him optimistic.

“They’ve had great chemistry, no matter what,” Broussard said. “In some ways, they didn’t get much experience coming into the season … as we’ve gotten more experience, they’ve gotten more confident, and they’re believing in what we’re trying to do, and I am looking at a team that is more physical than ever before.

“It’s a team that is reflective of who I am, and that’s a big deal.”