Artesia, Highland set for 4A title rematch

To hear Highland coach Justin Woody tell it, his team has been building to this all season: a Class 4A championship rematch with Artesia.

After the top-seeded Hornets and No. 2 Bulldogs earned emphatic victories in Thursday’s semifinals, that moment has arrived. Highland and Artesia are going to run it back with a blue trophy on the line at the Pit on Saturday at 4 p.m.

“It’s going to take our best game of the season,” Woody said. “We've done everything that we can do to be prepared, playing all the best teams in the state. Sometimes we’re not always successful, but we’re as prepared as we’re going to be.”

While Artesia defeated Highland 55-48 to capture the Class 4A crown last season, the Hornets have won championships in 2024 and 2022 under Woody’s guidance. Now it’s Bulldogs who are looking for consecutive titles.

“We were working all year long, and it’s one of those things where we knew where we wanted to be,” said Artesia coach Michael Mondragon. “It’s a big accomplishment for these guys getting a (chance for a) back-to-back state title, but we know the job’s not done yet.”

No. 1 HIGHLAND 71, No. 5 TAOS 51: After an opening half that wasn’t up to their usual lofty standards, Hornets coach Justin Woody gave his team a stern talking-to in the locker room.

“I don’t think I can repeat it. I might get fired,” Woody quipped. “I was not happy with these guys. We weren’t playing Highland basketball. A lot of one-on-one and isolation, not really moving the ball.”

The result was a narrow 30-29 lead and a big opening half for Tigers big man Malakhai Ely, who had 18 points and nine boards at the break. Highland (26-4) began to turn the tide midway through the third period, closing the quarter on a 14-4 run to take a 54-40 lead. Taos (25-6) wouldn’t get closer than 13 points the rest of the way, as the Hornets’ backcourt duo of Nico Sanchez and Juan Limas attacked the rim at every opportunity.

With his family in attendance from Mexico, Sanchez finished with 26 points and nine steals — often beating multiple Taos defenders with furious drives to the basket.

“It was all about the team,” Sanchez said. “We followed the game plan in the second half. We did what we needed to do.”

Limas, meanwhile, shook off a slow start to score 17 of his 22 points in the second half. He echoed his backcourt mate’s sentiment regarding his team’s turnaround after Highland doubled its fastbreak output — from six in the first half to 13 in the third and fourth quarters.

“Our shot selection was pretty bad in the first half, so we just needed to run the ball in transition,” Limas said. “That’s what we did.”

Ely finished with 26 points and 18 rebounds for Taos. While he shot 11-for-19 from the floor, the rest of the team shot just 10-for-38 combined.

No. 2 ARTESIA 71, No. 3 HOPE CHRISTIAN 52: The Huskies had no answers for the size and strength of the Bulldogs inside.

Artesia shot 64% from the field and outscored Hope 56-24 in the paint as the defending state champions gradually wore down their opponents in the second half. Center Clay Kincaid led the way for the Bulldogs with 24 points and nine rebounds, while Trent Egeland added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Most of Kincaid’s and Egeland’s points came at close range — and several layups even came courtesy of lobs from the Artesia backcourt. Both Charlie Campbell and Cael Houghtaling tallied nine assists. The high-wire act is nothing new, according to Kincaid.

“Our whole starting five can dunk,” he said. “I expect to see more of it, maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

It took some time for Artesia to impose its will. Hope was within six at halftime, but the Bulldogs expanded their advantage to 13 after three and led by as many as 21 in the final stanza.

“I thought we did a great job at halftime making some adjustments. I didn’t think we executed very well in the first half,” said Artesia coach Michael Mondragon. “The efficiency — I really want to make sure we executed. So we felt like we had a huge advantage in multiple spots, but we were playing a little too fast.”

Outside of an outburst where he scored seven consecutive points near the end of the first quarter, Huskies career scoring leader Brayden Giron had a relatively quiet afternoon, finishing with 15 points.

“We’ve got a lot of guys, a lot of length, and we threw multiple guys at him. He’s tough,” Mondragon said. “Great career, amazing guy. It feels like we've been playing against him for like eight years, and he's finally going to graduate. But just frustrating him, making him take tough 2s and tough 3s and be real physical.”