Who will be the No. 1 seed in the state tournament? Volcano Vista makes final case for that spot

And now we turn our full attention to seed lines.

Boys and girls district basketball tournaments concluded around the state on Saturday, ahead of the announcement Sunday of the 10 postseason brackets by the New Mexico Activities Association.

The top two ranked teams in the state did battle for the fifth time on Saturday night. Class 5A’s Volcano Vista (23-5) beat Cleveland (23-5) 71-67 to win the District 1-5A tournament championship.

The Storm scored the game’s first 13 points.

“We have a lot of guys who’ve learned a lot from past championship teams,” Hawks coach Greg Brown said. His team is the four-time defending 5A state champion. “It’s gritty (the way they play), and there is a humility about them that I appreciate.”

And now we wait to see which of the two will be seeded on the top line of the 5A bracket. The NMAA is releasing them at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. 

Volcano Vista went 3-2 against Cleveland this season, including two wins this week. But as they both tied for first in the regular season, it is the team with the stronger overall resume that gets the higher seed in the playoffs. How the two are separated will assuredly come down to the final results of the two polls – MaxPreps, and the coaches, both criteria points – on Sunday.

“I don’t see how we can’t be the No. 1 seed,” Brown said.

Luis Gonzales scored 30 points and pumped in seven 3-pointers – both career bests – to lead Volcano Vista on Saturday night. David Lunn added 20 points and eight assists.

Albuquerque High, La Cueva, Centennial and Hobbs won boys 5A district tournament titles Saturday.

At La Cueva, Hunter Butler scored 20 points, CJ Johnson 13 off the bench, including several 3s, as the fourth-ranked Bears (22-6) beat No. 5 Sandia 63-50. The Matadors (20-9) this week got sophomore guard Gad Harris back on the floor after he missed virtually the entire regular season with a football injury.

At Albuquerque High, the Bulldogs (19-9) triumphed 67-53 over Atrisco Heritage (18-10)  in the finale to the 5-5A tournament. Chris Cyphery's 25 points were a team-best for AHS. Ethan Oetzel added 20 points. 

Centennial overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime, then the Hawks went on to edge Las Cruces 48-46 in the 3-5A final. In Hobbs, the Eagles captured the 4-5A tournament crown, 48-43 over rival Carlsbad.

From the metro area, there were a few other teams celebrating district tournament victories on Saturday.

Highland, recently anointed as the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A by the coaches, whipped Belen 87-62 in District 5-4A. Nico Sanchez led the Hornets (23-4) with 31 points. Juan Limas added 16 points.

At Del Norte, fourth-ranked Hope Christian (21-8) rallied in the second half for a 54-50 win over the third-ranked Knights in the 6-4A tournament. 

Brayden Giron led the Huskies with 19 points. Francois Satchivi led Del Norte with 15 points. Hope and the Knights have met six times this season, and each game was decided by seven or fewer points. Del Norte had beaten Hope in a 6-4A playoff game earlier in the week.

Bosque School (17-10), which fired its head coach in the next-to-last week of the season, beat East Mountain 55-52 on Saturday in the 5-3A final, the Bobcats’ third win in as many games against the Timberwolves who were 25-0 against everyone else on their schedule.

Menaul’s boys beat Oak Grove Classical Academy by two points in a playoff game to secure the top seed for the 2-2A tournament; the Panthers beat the Owls again on Saturday, 55-42.

Sandia’s and Albuquerque Academy’s girls also won district tournaments on Saturday.

The Matadors were pushed to overtime by La Cueva in 2-5A, but overcame the Bears 56-50.

Kaiyah Benally led Sandia (24-3) with17 points. Freshman Jabrece Minnifield added 12 points. Mia Wright nailed three big free throws in the OT to put away the Bears (17-10).

At Academy in the 6-4A final, the Chargers defeated Hope Christian 48-28. Lily Skarsgard had 13 points, Addie Spratley 12 for Academy who had four players in double figures.

Top-ranked Hobbs belted Clovis 73-41 in the 4-5A tournament final.

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.