Los Lunas, Artesia capture titles at Hope Christian Invitational

Artesia’s boys faced two of its expected Class 4A challengers this week and passed both tests. Los Lunas’ girls and their ferocious defense also performed extremely well, as the Tigers and Bulldogs on Saturday night won titles at the 40th annual Hope Christian Invitational.

Artesia pulled away in the second half for a 79-58 win against the host Huskies. Los Lunas hounded the Hope girls from baseline to baseline, and posted a 43-29 victory.

BOYS: Class 4A’s top-ranked Bulldogs (14-3) bled out the third-ranked Huskies (10-6) bit by bit after halftime, finding not just another gear but multiple gears as they pulled away in the second half.

There was a two-point lead for Artesia, 43-41, midway through the third quarter.

The Bulldogs then scored nine straight, keyed by Charlie Campbell’s three-point play.

A Hope 3-pointer temporarily stopped the Artesia momentum, but it was brief, because Artesia put together another 9-0 run and a 61-44 lead. Braylon Vega buried an off-balance 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter, and followed that up with another off-balance shot, this one from just in front of the arc line, during that sequence.

Hope had another basket, before Artesia authored another run, this one 8-0 and the game was out of hand at 69-46.

“It all goes back to defense and rebounding for us, our defense is relentless,” Bulldogs coach Mike Mondragon said.

All totaled between the three mini runs, it was a 26-5 run for the Bulldogs.

“We came into halftime kind of upset,” said Vega. “We were up three and we weren’t playing our best basketball.”

Vega led Artesia with 25 points. Campbell struggled throughout the first half, but scored 18 of his 22 points after halftime.

The defending state champion Bulldogs played the tournament without their big man, Clay Kincaid, but still had wins over Nos. 3 and 4 (Taos) during this week’s Hope event.

“Our defense and our rebounding, that’s our bread and butter for us,” Vega said. “Just keep doing that, hopefully it’ll take us far, hopefully as far as it did last year.”

GIRLS: Los Lunas (16-2) quietly has put together one of the strongest resumes of anyone in Class 5A girls basketball. The Tigers are ranked fifth in the state, with just two three-point losses — one to Hobbs, the other in overtime to Mayfield — separating them from being undefeated.

“I think we’re probably going under the radar. People probably aren’t really thinking too much of us, and we’re fine with that,” Los Lunas coach Manny Vigil said.

The Tigers hounded Hope Christian (15-3), although it took over three quarters before the Tigers began to create separation.

Los Lunas led 28-26 when the fourth quarter began, but scored the first 11 of the fourth quarter.

Kayla Finley started the run with a basket on the low post. Grace Baca followed with a 3-pointer, and Finley hit a mid-range jumper for a 35-26 lead. Brooklyn Hanks and again Finley closed out the run, which decided the game.

“I think in the second half, we started off with five consecutive turnovers,” Vigil said. “But once the girls settled down, we made some shots to pull away. We have to rely on our defense to keep us in games whenever we start playing like that.”

Sophomore guard Jalexa Ornelas led the Tigers with 16 points, including a key three-point play near the end of the third quarter that came directly off a Hope Christian turnover. Finley added 11 points.