Bosque rallies to beat Cobre, advances to 3A semis 

The Bobcats live to fight another day.

Behind Josiah Wilson’s 23 points and 11 points, No. 6 Bosque rallied in the fourth quarter to shock the third-seeded Indians in a Class 3A boys quarterfinal Wednesday at Rio Rancho Events Center. 

The Bobcats (19-10) trailed for virtually the entire game before Jordan Kruft hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth to give them a 54-52 lead. Cobre (25-4) battled back to pull ahead by two before Bosque — no stranger to strong finishes — launched a 9-0 run to take control of the game for good.

Bosque trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and 39-30 at the break after allowing a combined 20 points to Cobre’s talented Guck brothers, Zavin (25 points) and Izon (14 points.)

“30 points in a half is a lot of us (to allow),” Bosque interim head coach Gerard Garcia said. “We just had to follow the script — the brothers … I think they average 21, 20 points a game. I said, ‘if one scores over 20, the other one has to score under 15.’”

Bosque got exactly that to match a strong bounce-back game from one of its stars. After scoring only four points in an opening-round win over Cottonwood Classical Prep, Wilson scored 10 of Bosque’s 16 points in the third quarter, willing the Bobcats to a 52-46 deficit at its close.

“Worst game I played all year, I’ll be honest,” Wilson said of his performance against the Coyotes on Saturday. “That’s not like me. But I told myself, and they told me, to keep my head up — I’m a leader on this team, and if I’m scoring and I’m getting going, that opens up my guys.”

Kruft, who scored nine points in the game, was the prime beneficiary, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers early in the Bobcats' 23-point fourth quarter to push them ahead for the first time since the game’s opening points. Zavin — the senior Guck — tied it at 56-56 before Bosque launched its game-swinging run to grab a 65-56 lead with 1:52 remaining.

Luca Kalishman — the hero of Bosque’s win over Cottonwood — scored the Bobcats’ final four points to finish with eight in the fourth and 18 on the day.

“Luca was just great,” Garcia said. “I had to reel him in a little bit — in the third quarter, he got a little out of control … Once the fourth quarter hit, he said, ‘I’m good, coach.’”

Bosque’s win continues one of the state tournament’s most unlikely runs. Garcia, the former head coach at St. Michael’s, took over for the Bobcats following Clifton Davidson’s shock dismissal in February, leading Bosque to a 4-1 record since.

Davidson — who watched the Bobcats from the stands in both of their playoff wins — was hired by Bernalillo High on Tuesday.

While he considered not taking the position after Davidson was fired, Garcia said it was Wilson and Kalishman that urged him to stay.

“First call was this from guy,” said a visibly emotional Garcia, motioning to Wilson, “and Luca saying, ‘coach, we want you to stay with us through the year.’”

“If he (left), I don’t even know if I’d still be playing right now,” Wilson added.

For now, the Bobcats get to play another day — in the state semifinals, against No. 10 Robertson, the reigning 3A champion.

Class 2A 

Cameron Holton, Carlos Ragland, and Brandyn Encinias all scored 12 points as the Panthers of Pecos survived a fourth-quarter scare from the Panthers of Menaul in a 60-51 Class 2A boys quarterfinal win Wednesday at Rio Rancho Events Center. 

Playing for an 11th straight trip to the semifinals, Pecos (27-3) led 12-5 after the first quarter and 39-28 at the end of the third. But Menaul (22-9) capitalized on a fourth-quarter stretch that saw Pecos miss six of seven free throws for a late run, chipping its deficit to six points with 1:12 remaining.

Pecos took care of business at the foul line the rest of the way, icing the game with Encinias’ free throws.

“It wasn’t as smooth as we like it … But we have another game to fix that,” Pecos head coach Arthur Gonzales said.

Menaul’s J’Quan Samuels finished with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds, making an impact late after scoring only three points in the first half. Gustas Komparskas added 16 points for Menaul, scoring six in the fourth quarter.

“We just couldn’t quite get over that hump,” Menaul coach Anelisia Peña said. “We got within a couple possessions and we just missed some shots, right … The three was there, but we just could not hit it. We had some takes at the rim, and they were just falling out.”

Pecos outrebounded Menaul 31-26 and shot 47% from the field.

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.