Party of four: No. 6 Sandia sneaks into 5A semis with Volcano Vista, Cleveland and La Cueva

The 16-team Class 5A boys basketball bracket has shriveled into a mini four-teamer with the powers of District 1 and District 2 left to sort out the final weekend of the 2025-26 season.

No. 1 Volcano Vista, No. 2 Cleveland, No. 4 La Cueva and No. 6 Sandia won quarterfinal games Wednesday at the Pit, setting up Thursday’s semifinals.

Volcano Vista plays La Cueva at 4:45 p.m., with Sandia taking on Cleveland at 8:15 p.m.

Both the Matadors and the Storm advanced with single-point victories. The Bears pulled away late in their win, and the Hawks closed the day with a typically clinical defensive showing.

No. 6 SANDIA 66, No. 3 RIO RANCHO 65: When the band’s all together, these Matadors have practically no limitations.

It’s only been about two weeks that all of Sandia’s pieces have been on the floor together for the first time this season, and on Wednesday afternoon, the Matadors turned the 5A bracket a little on its ear with their minor upset of the Rams.

Three players – George Smith, Gad Harris and Malachi Knox – who have hardly been on the floor together since the offseason, each provided a crucial basket in the final two minutes as Sandia (22-9) won its first game in three tries against Rio Rancho (25-6) this season.

“We showed some toughness and resiliency,” Sandia coach Danny Brown said.

Harris only recently returned to the lineup after a football injury late last season. Smith has been in and out of the lineup with injuries. Knox didn’t become eligible until this calendar year.

Rio Rancho hadn’t seen this iteration of the Matadors, Brown pointed out, in either of their regular-season matchups.

Sandia played brilliantly most of the way, leading by as many as 15 points, even up until the last two minutes of the third quarter.

“We had the pace going the way we wanted it, especially in the first half,” coach Brown said.

“They just shot the crap out of the ball,” Rio Rancho coach Steve Heredia observed.

The Rams answered with 10 straight, and they chipped away at that deficit through most of the fourth quarter until finally catching, and passing, the Matadors on Noah Lovato’s mid-range jumper with 2:18 left for a 56-55 lead.

It was 58-55 with 1:54 to go for the Rams.

Smith scored on a drive for Sandia to cut the deficit to one, and then Harris scored on a spinning move off the glass for a 59-58 Matadors lead with 1:28 remaining.

Moments later, down a point, Knox scored on a layup for a 61-60 lead. Isaiah Brown nailed four free throws to seal the win. The final score is reflective of a last-second 3 by Rio Rancho.

Sandia played in the state final last March with a couple of players on this roster – notably, Harris and Isaiah Brown – having taken on prominent roles as freshmen. Smith, a Robertson transfer, won state with the Cardinals last year in the 3A division. They’re all sophomores.

“Definitely, experience matters, especially in the Pit,” said Smith, who scored a team-best 20 points. “It’s amazing. We played AAU together, and we thought we were great in the summer, when we had our whole entire team.”

Sandia takes on Cleveland on Thursday in the semis. The Storm beat the Matadors by 22 in the metro semifinals two months ago.

“We’re not where we want to be,” coach Brown said. “We’re still trying to chase our best basketball.”

Harris finished with 17 points and six rebounds for Sandia. Knox scored 12 points.

Dashon Bynum led the Rams with 17 points. Kayden Decker added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Sandia was 19-for-28 from the line, Rio Rancho just 11-of-20.

No. 2 CLEVELAND 54, No. 10 CARLSBAD 53: About 45 minutes before the Cavemen and Storm took the floor, a voice from inside the Carlsbad locker room could be heard screaming: “They are underestimating you!!”

Two hours later, the Cavemen very nearly parlayed that mantra into a berth in the semifinals.

Zee Huerta’s open look, a 6-footer in the lane, went off the back rim on the final shot of the game, and the clock ran out on Carlsbad’s upset bid, and its season.

“We got the look we wanted,” Cavemen coach John Zumbrun said, adding, “I thought it was in.”

Carlsbad, down 54-51, was at the line with a chance to tie the game with three free throws with 16.8 seconds remaining. Huerta made the first and third, but the middle try circled out, leaving Carlsbad down a point.

But Cleveland (25-6) set up the final shot when the Storm was called for traveling with 9.1 seconds to go on the next possession.

Huerta got into the lane, and it was as good a shot as any team could have hoped to get for a game-winner.

“It was a great shot,” said Cleveland senior guard Remy Albrecht, who led the Storm with 20 points (8-of-12 from the floor) and five assists.

The game seesawed back and forth. Carlsbad had a quick 10-point lead six minutes into the game (15-5), but then Cleveland began to do what the Storm does so well: getting its multiple shooters going, and complicating efforts to defend them.

There were 3s in that second quarter from Albrecht, Cannon Cole, Brycen Bowie, and, at the buzzer, a long 3 from Noah Valler that put the Storm up 32-28 at halftime.

Cleveland led by seven in the second half, but Carlsbad chipped away, finally pulling even at 46 with 4:53 to go.

“We don’t care how we win,” Storm coach Zack Cole said. “Survive and advance.”

Shane Sullivan, his district’s co-player of the year, was largely the reason Carlsbad had this upset chance. Sullivan, a 6-4 forward, was terrific, leading the Cavemen with 17 points (on 8-of-13 shooting) and 10 rebounds.

Both teams shot over 50% for the game: Carlsbad 21-for-38 (55.3%), Cleveland 19-33 (57.6%).

No. 4 LA CUEVA 56, No. 5 HOBBS 43: The game was tied at 41 midway through the fourth quarter, but La Cueva big man Hunter Butler, who dunks so frequently it’s as though he’s receiving a stipend for every slam, recorded back-to-back, rim-rattling two-handed dunks, sparking a 15-2 run to close the game for the Bears (24-6).

Butler who scored 15 points, and Drew Bramlett, who led the Bears with 22 points, scored all the points during that 15-2 run. Bramlett mixed in some free throws with a dunk of his own.

“They’ve been doing it all year,” La Cueva coach Eric Orell said. Of Butler in particular: “Highlight after highlight.”

The Bears shot 13-for-23 from the field (56.5%) in the second half,

Bramlett, with a three-point play and a 3-pointer, sparked a 12-0 run in the third quarter that put the Bears in front 33-25.

Hobbs (19-10), led by Braddock Beaty, closed with 10 of the final 14 points of the quarter, including a three-point play from big man Malakhi David who didn’t play against La Cueva the first time these teams met, in the opening round of the Albuquerque Metro Championships.

The game was tied at 37-37 and 41-41 in the fourth quarter before Butler and Bramlett took over.

“I see a dunk (from Butler) and I feel like I dunked the ball,” Bramlett said with a smile.

La Cueva has won eight in a row going into Thursday’s semifinals, where the Bears will face Volcano Vista or Las Cruces.

“We know it’s coming to an end,” Butler said, “and we’ve just been making every moment count.”

Free throws were key on Wednesday; La Cueva made 16-of-22, while Hobbs only got to the line six times, making four. The Bears also had a big edge in the paint, outscoring Hobbs 34-20.

“They executed a little better down the stretch, and that was the difference,” Eagles coach Ronald Ross said. Beaty led Hobbs with 16 points.

No. 1 VOLCANO VISTA 54, No. 8 LAS CRUCES 37: This was the only one of the quarterfinals that generated no real energy, as the Hawks (24-5) fashioned an excellent defensive performance against the Bulldawgs (25-6).

Junior guard David Lunn scored 23 points for Volcano Vista, which also focused defensively on big guard Ben Walton, who had a quiet 14 points, and forward Jayden Brisby, who finished with 12.

“I thought we were really locked in (defensively),” Hawks coach Greg Brown said.

Volcano Vista led by nine early, with Luis Gonzales and Finley Fitak both draining 3-pointers. Fitak added another 3 in a quiet second quarter; Lunn weaved his way through multiple Las Cruces defenders for a late finish and a 27-18 halftime lead.

Fitak and Lunn combined again for a 3 and a finish in the third quarter for a 36-22 lead as the Bulldawgs simply could not generate anything at the offensive end. Fitak finished with 13 points.

Volcano Vista, searching for a fifth consecutive 5A title, has won 18 consecutive playoff games. Next for the Hawks is La Cueva, a team that beat Volcano Vista 55-49 back on Dec. 5.

“What happened to us early in the season won’t happen again,” Lunn vowed.