Tourney roundup: Rio Rancho's Martinez stars; Cleveland and La Cueva boys advance

RIO RANCHO — The middle of December brings with it a special No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Class 5A girls basketball.

No. 1 Albuquerque High and No. 2 Rio Rancho both won semifinal games on Friday at the Mel Otero Invitational at Rio Rancho, setting up their meeting at 3 p.m. Saturday.

A few miles away, Cleveland’s boys and La Cueva square off at 4 p.m. Saturday in the championship game of the Phil Griego Invite.

At the Joe Armijo Classic at Albuquerque Academy, it’ll be Las Cruces’ girls versus Sandia at 6:30 p.m. in the final, followed at 8:15 by Mayfield against Centennial.

Mel Otero Invite

It was a career high. It was a school record. It was possibly the best game of Madi Martinez’s life. There was also this optic: she outscored an entire opponent — and not just anyone, but 4A juggernaut Kirtland Central — by herself.

Rio Rancho’s explosive sophomore guard went off for 43 points Friday afternoon as the Rams, the host team in this event and newly minted as the No. 2-ranked team in Class 5A, dominated 4A’s second-ranked Kirtland Central 62-42 in the early semifinal of the Otero.

Martinez had 42 in a victory last season against Volcano Vista. Her versatility was on full display: her perimeter game, her ability to create at the rim, and her overall savvy in creating quality shots.

“She is just a killer,” Rio Rancho coach Lori Mabrey said. “That’s the word I would use for her. She has a killer mentality, she never lets off the gas, she loves to score and she’s just a fierce competitor.”

Rio Rancho (6-0) swarmed the Broncos (4-1) early, racing out to a 21-4 lead.

“We prepped just to come out hard and have energy when we play big opponents,” Martinez said. “And we executed that well today.”

Kirtland twice cut the deficit to single digits at nine points, once in the second quarter and again in the third quarter, at 42-33 following Zoey Benally’s three-point play. But nine was as close as the Broncos would get.

“We didn’t play particularly well (Thursday against Centennial), and we knew we had to play much better today,” Mabrey said. “Kirtland is a good team and we knew they were gonna make some runs at us, and they did, but I’m proud of our kids for answering each and every one of those calls.”

Kirtland Central had done much the same thing to La Cueva on Thursday that Rio Rancho did to the Broncos on Friday — namely, starting on fire.

“We knew we had to send a message, because we just did get to No. 2 in the state. And we want that 1,” Martinez said.

Coincidentally, she and the Rams will get that very chance on Saturday at 3 p.m., in the Otero final. Albuquerque High, ranked No.1 in 5A, beat Mayfield on Friday night.

Daysia Jack, Mabrey said, was Rio Rancho’s unsung hero Friday; her defense on Kirtland’s dangerous guard, Allyson Tsosie, was superb, and Tsosie was limited to just five points.

“As good as Madi was on offense, she was equally good defensively on Tsosie,” Mabrey said.

In the late semifinal, the Bulldogs (4-0) dominated Mayfield 57-24. Lailah Bouldin and Savannah Combs each scored 17 points for AHS, which played without standout freshman guard Abby Pavia.

Pavia is in New York with her family for brother Diego’s Heisman Trophy festivities; the award will be handed out Saturday night. She will also miss the final against Rio Rancho.

Phil Griego Invite

At Cleveland High School, La Cueva and the host Storm won semifinal games Friday night, and will meet at 4 p.m. Saturday for the Griego title.

La Cueva won a tight defensive battle with Santa Fe, 47-40. In the late game, Cleveland was out quickly against Los Lunas, and the Storm rolled to a 73-39 triumph.

The Bears (5-0) and Santa Fe (4-1) both defended exceedingly well in the first semi, but the difference was 5-foot-11 sophomore shooting guard CJ Johnson, who got free for two relatively clean looks from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter. He drilled both of them as La Cueva stayed unbeaten.

La Cueva never trailed, but the Demons were tight on the Bears’ heels throughout. La Cueva led by six in the game’s opening moments; the largest lead was the final score thanks to a very late basket.

Johnson’s two 3s were extremely well timed. The first, with 6:18 to go, broke a 34-all tie. The second, with 3:40 left, put the Bears in front 40-36.

“It was just the position the coaches put us in,” said Johnson, who scored eight points.

Neither team found much offensive success.

“We were struggling a little bit. That’s our M.O.,” La Cueva coach Eric Orell said. “Defensive, we’ve been pretty good, but we’re just struggling right now to get into our offensive stuff. … We’re trying to figure out our players and roles and that kind of stuff is big for us right now.”

The Demons had one lengthy scoring drought, which was ill-timed: a four-minute gap between points in the fourth quarter.

Hunter Butler, a 6-2 senior forward doing work inside, led the Bears with 17 points.

“We’re still trying to get our identity,” Johnson said. “We’ve got our big man with Hunt(er), he does a lot for us. And we can score with Drew Bramlett and Tony Trujillo.”

Friday was the third time already this season the Bears have held an opponent to under 50 points.

“Once we start executing,” Orell said, “I think we’re gonna be an extremely hard matchup for most people.”

Cleveland (4-0, with two of those wins against Los Lunas) got 25 points from senior guard Remy Albrecht, and 13 more from junior wing Jace Bracken.

Joe Armijo Classic

At Albuquerque Academy, Sandia’s girls (6-1 and winners of six in a row after a season-opening road loss at Hobbs) posted an impressive 59-40 semifinal victory over the host Chargers (4-2) in Friday’s semifinals. In the other semi, Las Cruces’ (5-1) defense led the way in a 47-29 win over Cleveland (4-2).

Mayfield (5-0) continued its hot start, downing Clovis 57-52. At 8:15 p.m. Saturday, the Trojans will face Centennial, which beat Sandia 68-63 in triple overtime.