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Home / Sports News / For the second straight time, host St. Michael’s meets up with red-hot Silver in the Horsemen Round Robin Invitational after ending its 4-game losing streak by dominating Wingate, 65-40, Thursday night

For the second straight time, host St. Michael’s meets up with red-hot Silver in the Horsemen Round Robin Invitational after ending its 4-game losing streak by dominating Wingate, 65-40, Thursday night

By Arnie Leshin 

Silver and St. Michael’s have a recent history of meeting on the football field, home or away and usually in the state tournament.

But the schools, separated by an approximate 5-6 hours drive along I-25, are now matching up on the basketball court. In last year’s Horsemen Round Robin Invitational, the Colts swept past St. Michael’s, Santa Fe Indian School and Portales, and neither game was close  

From there, Silver took a 17-game undefeated streak to the state 4A championship game before falling to Albuquerque Hope Christian and concluding at 24-5.

Well, the Colts are back again in Santa Fe for the Horsemen Round Robin, and began with Thursday night’s 71-42 rout over Moriarty, their sixth in a row and sporting a 11-2 mark.

Now they get to face St. Michael’s tonight, and after the Horsemen rolled over Wingate, 65-40, to snap a 4-game losing streak, they get another tough test from Silver, the team with the best record in this round robin.

Meanwhile, 3A St. Michael’s is now at 8-6 as it lines up against the Colts in the 7 o’clock closer after Moriarty (7-9) meets up with Wingate (4-7) in the opener schedule for 5:30.

The Horsemen will have to contain 5-foot-10, 150-pound senior guard Tristin Moore. He runs the show as a point guard and can score, tossing in the game-high 30 points against Moriarty, with all of the points coming in the first three quarters.

St. Michael’s had no problem versus Wingate. It has had a tough slate to this point and were able to turn it up this time for its first win since Dec. 27. It came away with a 9-2 start, increased it after one quarter, and led by 18 at halftime.

Its tallest player, 6-4 Connor Glatz, was able to use his height and length to have the team-high 14 points. Thomas Wood added 10 and reserve Derek McQuiston scored 11.

Now it’s Silver in town, and with a wet snow falling. If the home team doesn’t win this one, it’s almost certain the Colts will go 3-0 here once again.

Up in Espanola Valley Thursday night in non district play, the Sundevils and their fans were paying tribute to the late Cameron Martinez, who would have been a junior on the team, but was fatally shot back on Oct. 4, in a mistaken identify shooting on New Mexico Route 68.

In the game itself, Gallup made some key shots in the stretch run while Espanola missed a bunch from the field, as well as from the foul line where it made good on only 6-of-11 in the fourth quarter, which included missing half of its last six.

The Sundevils (8-7) were up 77-75 after team captain Ryan Trujillo missed one-of-two freebies with 8.3 seconds left. Quickly, the Bengals (9-4) got the ball to junior wing Issac Bustinza and he fired up his second 3-poiinter to claim a 78-77 victory.

In girl’s basketball, Pojoaque Valley’s unbeaten skein ended at 13 in a tough 45-41 setback to 5A Carlsbad in the Portales Round Robin Invitational. The Cavemen, among the top teams in their class, improved to 12-2.

Usually having a well-balanced lineup, the Elkettes struggled his time. Junior wing Michaela Martinez was on target, though, scoring 14 of her 17 points in the second half. But only three other Pojoaque players made the scoring column, with Martinez the only one to connect on a 3-pointer.

The Elkettes take on host Portales (5-7) tonight, and wind up versus Gallup (9-3) Saturday. Thursday night, Gallup turned back the Rams, 69-58.

At Capital High in a non district start, the Jaguar girls had a poor defensive effort in being routed, 72-34, to Piedra Vista. The visitors (13-2) extended a 31-24 halftime advantage by turning in 41 second-half points. As bad as it was on the defensive end, Capital (4-9) also struggled on offense and made only 10 points in the last two quarters.

The Jags picked up a team-high nine points from Alyssa Martinez, and teammate Rebecca Sorenson scored six. They play next at Taos in non district play Saturday night.

Also  that night. Santa Fe Prep is at Santa Fe Indian School, with a 5 o’clock start. Pecos is at Hagerman in a girls-boys doubleheader, while Robertson heads for Newcomb.

In boy’s play Saturday, Santa Fe High travels to Clovis, Indian School plays in Albuquerque at Sandia Prep, Santa Fe Prep is in a doubleheader at Tucumcari, and Los Alamos is at Artesia.

Tonight, St. Michael’s girls take the road for Albuquerque Academy in a non district game.

In boy’s play, Capital is home to Pojoaque Valley, LosAlamos is at Portales, Taos plays host to Albuquerque St. Pius X, and West Las Vegas heads for Shiprock.

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