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Home / Sports News / Underdog St. Michael’s suffers last second loss to 2nd seeded Portales Wednesday’s state 4A basketball tournament quarterfinal played at the Rio Rancho Santa Ana Star Center

Underdog St. Michael’s suffers last second loss to 2nd seeded Portales Wednesday’s state 4A basketball tournament quarterfinal played at the Rio Rancho Santa Ana Star Center

Underdog St. Michael’s suffers last second loss to 2nd seeded Portales Wednesday’s state 4A basketball tournament quarterfinal played at the Rio Rancho Santa Ana Star Center

Two foul shots end season for the upset-minded Horsemen

Moral victory? No so, not after underdog St, Michael’s gave 2nd seeded gave Portales more than it could handle Wednesday in the 4A quarterfinals of the state basketball tournament at the Rio Rancho Santa Ana Star center.

With leading scorer 6-foot-2 senior Luke Archuleta reduced to the bench as a cheerleader after breaking a bone in his foot at a practice prior to the opening round win over visiting Wingate, the Horsemen came to play, not just show up.

And the Rams, who defeated St. Michael’s, 54-49, in the round-robin tournament played at Shelley-Perez gymnasium back in January, could not separate themselves from the 7th seeded Horsemen. Each time they made a run, St. Michael’s responded, enough to take this game down to the final seconds.

What was a courageous effort by head coach Ron Geyer’s team ended in disappointment when 6-5 Portales sophomore Jeremy Karngbaye broke a 47-47 tie with a pair of free throws after he was fouled with 1.7 seconds remaining in regulation.

What was thought would go into overtime was no doubt not the way Portales thought it would win this one, but certainly did not want to be on the losing end.  

St. Michael’s hung close in the first quarter, trailing 14-13. It was outscored 14-11 in the next quarter and was down 28-24 at halftime. Despite the height disadvantage, the Horsemen played this one up big, never losing their way.

It was a back-and-forth tussle that brought 10 lead changes and six ties. Until the fading seconds, the last deadlock was at 38-all early in the final quarter. That came on a jumper by St. Michael’s junior Antonio Gabaldon right after the Rams’ Jase Wallace scored on a layup to bring his team the lead for good at 38-36.

Karngbaye followed with a dunk, but hung on the rim long enough to get hit with a technical. Sophomore guard Javon Montoya converted the two charity tosses, his team cut the gap to 44-40 and had possession of the ball. Next, 5-10 sophomore guard Dominick Morgan made good on two foul shots and it was 44-42.

Plus, Karngbaye, the main inside threat, picked up his fourth personal foul, but teammate Braden Bridges, a 6-1 junior, made good on a pair of free throws to up the margin to 45-42 with 0:23.4 showing on the clock.

But back came Montoya with a drive and layup from the baseline, only to have Karngbaye toss in two foul shots with 13:05 left to go up 47-44. Then no quit St. Michael’s had senior guard Thomas Pacheco miss a try at a 3, but the ball bounded back to him and he found the net this time at 0:3.7.

Time out Rams. Then the ball went to Karngbaye, and as he went down the sideline, he was bumped by Gabaldon and fouled by 6-4 senior Adam Tupler. He took a deep breath, put in the two freebies, and Portales was now 24-4 and into Friday’s semifinals against 3rd seed Silver, which turned back 11th seeded Moriarty, 58-42, with a big second half.

After a game in which they kept pace throughout, time ran out on the Horsemen, but they looked more impressive than a team that wound up at15-15. They had an up-and-down season, lost some tight games both home and away, and took the court for this game with upset on their minds.

Before the opening tip-off, Geyer said: “I am very proud of this team, they have played hard every time out, a great bunch of kids, and I’m happy for them making it this far.”

Then his team showed it didn’t want to end the campaign on this day, and it came thisclose to playing well enough to force the upset.

In what was a reunion of the previous meeting, the same for Silver-Portales, for the Colts were also in the four-school round robin at St. Michael’s, losing to both St. Michael’s and Portales.

Then they went on to play their best ball, win district, now on a 13-game win skein, and are currently at 24-4, same as the Rams.

The Horsemen made 45 percent of their shots from the field, converted 9-of-12 foul shots, and got a team-high 11 points from Pacheco in his final game, as well as 10 from Gabaldon, who became a starter when Archuleta was injured, while Tupler bowed out with nine points and Montoya scored six.

Each team made six 3s, with Pacheco netting two, both forcing ties. Junior Ramirez, a senior and the quarterback for the state-champion football team, made a pair for the Rams and finished with nine points, one less than Bridges.

But the game-high 20 points went to Karngbaye, who was also 6-for-6 from the foul line, brought down 11 rebounds, and who rescued his team from a possible overtime.

In the other 4A semis, top-seed and defending state champion Albuquerque Hope Christian (27-2) rolled over 8th seed Bernalillo, 71-40, and take on 4th seeded Las Vegas Robertson (18-8), which defeated district and cross-town rival West Las Vegas. The semifinals will be played at the WisePies Arena, aka the UNM Pit.

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