Cleveland ends Volcano Vista's metro championships dominance

For the first time in half a dozen years, the massive trophy that goes to the winner of this particular prep basketball tournament will have a name inscribed on it that doesn’t include Volcano Vista.

The Hawks’ four-year run as boys champions of the Albuquerque Metro Championships ended on Saturday night at the hands of No. 4-ranked Cleveland, which was excellent on defense throughout as it topped No. 5 Volcano Vista 53-48 before a packed house at Del Norte.

“I think they’re starting to experience what we can be if we lock in on that side of the ball,” said Storm coach Zack Cole.

It was 2019-20 when Cleveland won metros — there was no tournament in 2021 because of the pandemic — and Volcano Vista had dominated this event every year since.

The Storm (12-2), after the game was tied at halftime, led almost the whole way in the second half, and this result confirms what most everyone has already said or observed, that the Class 5A boys division looks to be as wide open as it has been in many seasons.

“It all comes down to defense,” senior guard Remy Albrecht said. He scored a team-best 28 points. “D2O (defense to offense), and that’s what we did tonight.”

What a stretch it has been for Cleveland since the calendar flipped to 2026.

The Storm on Jan. 2 took down No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Las Cruces, then won the state’s most grueling tournament, an event that demands four games in five days.

Cleveland’s road included a quarterfinal win at tough Highland, then a victory over Sandia on Friday in the semifinals.

Volcano Vista (10-3), coming off an emotional and perhaps even exhausting semifinal win Friday against Rio Rancho, came out blazing Saturday, led by 6-foot-5 junior forward David Lunn.

Lunn, whose speed, agility and power is nearly indefensible when he’s on his game, could not be stopped early. He had 11 points in the first quarter and 15 early in the second quarter as the Hawks led 23-15.

Jace Bracken and Ajay Vigil both canned 3-pointers for Cleveland late in the first half as the Hawks were held without a point in the final four minutes of the first half. The game was square at 23 at halftime.

Albrecht, who had continued success driving to the rim and finishing, knocked down consecutive 3s in the opening moments of the third quarter as Cleveland inched in front. Ajay Vigil’s 3 on the wing for the Storm in the final minute staked them to a 39-34 lead headed to the fourth quarter.

“We feel like one of our strengths is our ability to shoot the basketball,” Cole said. “We didn’t shoot it great tonight, but we made the timely ones.”

And therein lies the rub for Volcano Vista. The Hawks had no shortage of good looks, but struggled to string buckets together or even find that one big shot for almost the entirety of the second half. Cleveland, on the other hand, got several key 3s from players not named Albrecht, like Vigil and Brycen Bowie.

“In order to beat a team like that,” Volcano coach Greg Brown said, “we have to shoot the ball better.”

Lunn finished with 28 points.

“Seemed like our energy was lower,” Brown said. “It needed to be better, especially for a championship game.”

In the end, Brown said, “(Cleveland) did a really good job of executing down the stretch of this game.”

One great example: After Spirit Penn-Cook’s three-point play brought the Hawks to within two at 47-45 with 2:19 to, Cleveland got a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Storm ran a terrific play which led to an open back-door layup by Albrecht.

Finlay Fitak knocked down a 3 for Volcano for a 49-48 Cleveland lead, but the Storm made enough free throws in the last 30 seconds to win the tournament.

The District 1-5A rivals next meet on Jan. 30.