Championship Saturday: A preview of the last day of the high school basketball season

There was not universal agreement on this. It was more a general consensus people had about this 2024-25 Class 5A boys basketball season — if there was one team capable of stopping the Volcano Vista train, it was the Sandia Matadors.

And here we are.

“To be playing that last Saturday together, it’s gonna be awesome,” Volcano Vista coach Greg Brown said. “I’m super proud just to be a part of it again.”

Saturday night’s Sandia-Volcano Vista final at the Pit (tipoff, 8 p.m.) seems apropos given the regular seasons they both enjoyed. These were the top two ranked teams in 5A by the coaches for a large swath of the season.

Everything has been pointing toward this night, and this pairing. Volcano Vista (28-2) is the top seed, Sandia (27-3) is seeded No. 3. The Matadors swarmed No. 2 Hobbs by 35 points in the semifinals.

“We wanted to play against each other on this last day,” Brown said. “We knew we both had the teams to do it.”

For the second time in three years, Greg and his younger brother Danny, who coaches Sandia, will meet in the 5A final. The Hawks won the 2023 battle, the second of three straight. Even before these playoffs began, Volcano Vista already was the first large division program from Albuquerque to win three in a row when the Hawks beat Organ Mountain 12 months ago.

The last Albuquerque team of any kind to win four straight was Hope Christian (2016; the fourth of six in a row). Hobbs (1999-2002) was the last to do this in the large classification.

Sandia has had two decent chances already this season to beat Volcano Vista.

The Matadors led the Hawks by 16 on the West Side in December, but Volcano Vista turned up the screws defensively and came back in the second half for a 68-59 win.

They met again in the Albuquerque metro finals, a game that went down to the last minute before the Hawks prevailed 61-57.

Both won easily in the Thursday semifinals. Volcano Vista said it is Sandia’s pace and volume of outside shooting (fueled by guards, senior Zaire Ndyabagye, freshmen Isaiah Brown and Gad Harris, plus senior Thomas Adams, the District 2-5A player of the year) that is most challenging.

“Their playing style is super hard to play with, especially on this Pit floor,” Hawks 6-8 senior forward Kenyon Aguino said. Aguino makes up one half of 5A’s most imposing duo, the other being outstanding 6-5 sophomore forward David Lunn. And senior guard Rian Gonzales is coming off nine 3-pointers in the semifinals against Roswell.

For Sandia, it’s been an inability to close that has hindered the Matadors in the first two meetings against Volcano. But perhaps more than anyone else in 5A, Sandia knows this is a team it CAN beat.

“This group’s special, so I really think we have a chance,” Adams said.

Danny Brown is making his third appearance as a head coach in a state championship game. He also got there once at Highland.

“We’ve been here before, but this is a special group,” Danny Brown said. “Two years ago was really special, some of these guys were part of that. … We’re where we should be.”

Greg Brown is chasing his sixth ring (as a coach) on Saturday. He won a title at Manzano, and four so far with Volcano Vista.

“We have nothing but love and respect for their program and they do ours,” Greg Brown said. “We know how good they are and how capable they are.”

CLASS 5A GIRLS: Sandia also is in the 5A girls final, at 2 p.m. versus No. 1 Hobbs. The second-seeded Matadors (29-1) beat the Eagles 53-48 on opening day. Hobbs (29-1) hasn’t lost a game since, and these two, like Sandia-Volcano boys, have been on a mid-March collision course for a long while. The metro final that failed to materialize in January has come to fruition in March.

“This is the state championship I think everyone wants to see,” Hobbs coach Joe Carpenter said. “And I think this is a good one for people to come and watch.”

Both are veteran teams. The Matadors have the two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, senior guard Sydney Benally, plus other senior standouts such as Hope Giddings and Audri Wright; these three started together four years ago with this type of promise, and they all were part of Sandia’s championship team last year.

“We know for sure that it’s our last game, so we just now,” Giddings said. “We just have to come out and empty the tank.”

The Eagles have their own core of veterans, such as Bhret Clay, Nakia Mojica, Kyndle Cunningham and Brynn Hargrove, who’ve been together for five years.

“Last year, we didn’t get what we wanted,” Hargrove said. “We are hungry for that.”

Hobbs was upset last year in the state semifinals by Volcano Vista, ending a tremendous run of six straight seasons in the state final.

Sandia’s one dropped game was at home to Kirtland Central in the metro tournament semifinals.

“Should be fun,” Carpenter said. “Get some popcorn and Coke ready and let’s go.”

The 5A games are two of seven championship games at the Pit on Saturday. Here are the other five:

CLASS 4A BOYS, 4 p.m.: No. 2 Artesia (20-9) faces defending champion Highland (18-14), the 8 seed. The Hornets already this week have taken out the 1 seed, St. Pius, and the 4 seed, Albuquerque Academy, as they look to repeat. The Bulldogs have not won state in boys basketball since 1997.

CLASS 3A BOYS, noon: As with Sandia-Volcano, there are no secrets between St. Michael’s and Robertson, and the district rivals are playing for the fourth time this season. The top-seeded Horsemen (24-6) won the first matchup, the second-seeded Cardinals (27-4) the last two.

CLASS 2A BOYS, 8 a.m.: No. 1 Texico (28-2) takes on No. 3 Mesa Vista (26-4) to get the long day at the Pit started. The Trojans upset No. 2 Santa Rosa in Friday’s semifinals.

CLASS 1A BOYS, 6 p.m.: The two finalists, No. 1 Logan (25-3) and No. 2 Melrose (25-5) split a pair of regular-season games; the Buffaloes won the most recent game, and they’ll be up against an imposing Longhorns front line.

CLASS 1A GIRLS, 10 a.m.: Can No. 1 Roy/Mosquero (29-0) finish off a perfect season? It won’t be easy, as the Blue comes up against a team that played them fairly close in the regular season, the second-seeded co-op of Fort Sumner/House.