Class 5A boys quarterfinals go as expected

Thursday will be good, old-fashioned, North-South territorial warfare at the Pit.

The Class 5A boys state basketball quarterfinals on Wednesday at the Pit yielded neither surprise nor suspense, as No. 1 Volcano Vista, No. 2 Hobbs, No. 3 Sandia and No. 4 Roswell powered their way into Thursday’s semifinals, each winning by at least 13 points.

Sandia-Hobbs is the first semifinal, at 4:45 p.m. Volcano Vista and Roswell tip off at 8:15 p.m.

No. 1 VOLCANO VISTA 82, No. 8 LA CUEVA 48: The Volcano Vista Hawks often make their excellence and dominance look so effortless, and Wednesday night was no exception.

The state’s top-ranked team flexed their collective muscles in the quarterfinals, throttling La Cueva.

Volcano Vista (27-2) faces No. 4 Roswell at 8:15 p.m. Thursday night in the semifinals. The Hawks beat the Coyotes in late December at the Clovis tournament. Roswell won big Wednesday as well, 76-41 over 12th-seeded Farmington.

It wasn't all bad for La Cueva. The Bears (19-11) did lead for 23 seconds.

Otherwise, Volcano Vista, which won its 19th straight game, had its way in every way. The Hawks shot a phenomenal 91% from the field (10-of-11) in the opening quarter, shot a blistering 73.1% in the first half (19-of-26) from the floor, and they were 8-of-13 from the 3-point line in the opening two quarters. There were a few dunks, too.

La Cueva was within 10 points (25-15 early in the second quarter, but Volcano Vista answered with a 12-1 run.

"We were ready to go," Hawks coach Greg Brown said. "We could tell in practice."

The forensics of this one don't require much investigation. Volcano was up by 12 less than six minutes into the game, and everyone was involved along the way. And by everyone, we mean everyone. The Hawks used 14 players, and all of them had good minutes.

Star senior forward Kenyon Aguino, for example, was only on the floor for half the game

Sophomore David Lunn had a team-best 23 points, and was 8-of-10 from the field. Aguino (8-of-9 from the floor) had 18 points and six rebounds. The Hawks shot a crazy efficient 65.3% (32-of-49) from the field for the entire game. Volcano Vista had 21 assists on those 32 baskets.

"We were super locked in," Aguino said. "We had a super good game plan."

Thirteen of the Hawks’ players received at least six minutes game time Wednesday. Brown was substituting early and freely with his team in control so quickly.

Volcano Vista beat Roswell 91-65 in the semifinals of the Clovis tournament the week before Christmas.

“This is a different Roswell team,” Brown said.

Drew Bramlett had 11 points to lead La Cueva. Tre Cowles, Hunter Butler and Tony Trujillo scored 10 apiece.

No. 3 SANDIA 62, No. 6 ALBUQUERQUE HIGH 49: Spearheaded by a lengthy, six-minute, 19-0 run in the third quarter, the Matadors (26-3) got their payback, a year after being ousted in the quarterfinals by the Bulldogs (22-7).

“We were very happy to see Albuquerque High today,” senior guard Zaire Ndyabagye said. His 21-point, 10-rebound double double paced the Matadors. “(We’ve) waited for them since last year.”

The first half was back and forth; both teams had key players in foul trouble who spent extended time away from the floor. Sandia led 25-21 at the break.

AHS hit two early 3-pointers to open the second half, from Kasyn Atanasoff-Perea and Ali Mireles, to claim a 27-25 lead coming out of halftime.

It was a very long 6 minutes and 20 seconds before the Bulldogs scored their next point.

In the interim, Sandia went to work at both ends.

Freshman guard Gad Harris, stuck on the bench for most of the first half with foul trouble, was a spark throughout the run for Sandia. He had five straight points, including a marvelous spin move he manufactured in the lane, finishing off the glass for a 32-27 edge.

“A big part of this was having Gad out there in the second half,” Sandia coach Danny Brown said. “No doubt about it, he’s a difference maker. And these guys love having him out there.”

As the run continued, the Matadors stepped outside.

Isaiah Brown hit the first of the two 3s for a 35-27 lead. Harris, off a steal, made the other about a minute later. And Sandia’s dynamic freshmen guard duo had struck again.

Brown finished with 16 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

Sandia, who shoots more 3s than pretty much any team in 5A, did not shoot the ball all that well Wednesday, going 8 of 33 from the arc.

But, there were those two 3s in that 19-0 run that were extremely well timed.

“For the most part, we guarded pretty well, especially in that third quarter,” coach Brown said. “Guys were locked in defensively. … We didn’t shoot particularly well, but these guys know how to win. That was the difference. And I think we wore them down.”

Harris had 15 points and five assists in the win. Atanasoff-Perea scored 21 to lead the Bulldogs.

No. 2 HOBBS 66, No. 7 CLEVELAND 53: It was a game in Rio Rancho two months ago that proved to be a useful road map for the Eagles (26-4) as they advanced to the semifinals.

Thinking back to a visit to Cleveland in mid-January, Hobbs was enjoying a comfortable second-half lead that afternoon, but eventually, Remy Albrecht’s 47-point afternoon led to the Storm coming from behind to win 84-75.

Hobbs was up 12 that day early in the third quarter.

Hobbs was up 13 midway through the third quarter Wednesday.

Hobbs was having none of Cleveland’s comeback noise this time, particularly after the Eagles came out of halftime and put up the first 10 points of the third quarter — highlighted by bookend dunks from Abraham Peña and Parker Henderson — for a 38-25 advantage.

“That’s all we talked about these past few days,” Hobbs coach Ronald Ross said. “It was about composure, calmness, a sense of togetherness, and attitude. We watched how our bench was that last game, we had terrible bench energy. We just watched it over and over and over again.”

Indeed, the Eagles fended off a few mini bursts from Cleveland (19-11) in the second half Wednesday, but they were not in danger. The Storm got as close as nine points with just under two minutes remaining, but Hobbs had the answers this time.

“Slowly,” Ross said, “we were able to break them down and start doing some things we were able to do,”

This was especially true of the paint. Hobbs out-rebounded the Storm 41-29. The Eagles had 44 paint points to just 20 for Cleveland. The Eagles’ 7-footer, Henderson, may only have had six points and six rebounds (and five blocked shots), but his mere presence, as is often the case, forced plenty of detours and improvising on Cleveland’s part at the offensive end.

Hobbs’ other inside factor was senior forward Jairus Turrubiates, who had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

“We had a huge size advantage, we just tried to make the most of it,” Turrubiates said.

And the Storm didn’t shoot near well enough (28.3% on 17 of 60 from the floor) to make up the difference. Albrecht, for example, finished with 21 points but he was just 6 of 21 from the field, and made only one of his tries from beyond the arc.

“We were getting open looks, they just weren’t going in,” said Albrecht.

Hobbs shot 59% from the floor in the second half (16 of 27).

No. 4 ROSWELL 76, No. 12 FARMINGTON 41: The morning quarterfinal was barely even as close as the score indicates, with the Coyotes (24-7) putting up 51 points in the first half in an impressive victory that ended the Cinderella run for Scorpions (20-11).

Roswell enjoyed a robust morning shooting the ball; the Coyotes were 9-of-15 from the arc in a first half that saw them lead by as many as 38 points.

“That’s kind of who we are,” Coyotes coach Dude Burrola said. “We wanted to try to press, we wanted to try to run.”

Roswell shot 56% (28 of 50) from the floor for the game, and buried half its 18 attempts from behind the 3-point line.

Xai Carrasco led the Coyotes in both points (17) and rebounds (six).

Sandia boys advance with win over Albuquerque High: Photos