First the basketball contest, then the post-game brawl

First the basketball contest, then the post-game brawl after St. Michael’s rallied to claim a 60-58 win over visiting Robertson and advance to Saturday night’s District 2-4A Championship game at Taos Heated rivalry included a tough, tight game followed by the police’s arrival at St. Michael’s to control things

By Arnie Leshin 

It wasn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last time.

It was like a brawl breaks out during a baseball game, the gloves are dropped and it becomes a hockey game.

It occurs in every sport, and that includes Little League. And it’s nothing new when Robertson meets up with St. Michael’s, this time after the Horsemen turned in a 60-58 District 2-4A boy’s basketball semifinals win over the visitors from Las Vegas.

It began with an excuse me, and ended with the Santa Fe police escorting the Robertson team and coaches and fans out of the Perez-Shelley gymnasium and into the street. No time for comments because like most little things it developed into a few rounds of fisticuffs.

But there were spectators who provided the police with a report that indicated that a Robertson coach shoved St. Michael’s assistant coach, Gerard Garcia, from behind and knocked him to the floor.

What followed was players and fans rushing toward the bleachers at the gym’s northeast corner after words were exchanged between at least one Robertson player and a group of St. Michael’s fans.

The fracas then spilled out into the school’s lobby, prompting a mad rush of people, — including players and coaches — flowing through the double doors that separate the gym from the lobby. When the police arrived, they took statements and began escorting people to the street.

Reports to the police came from a handful of eyewitness that also spoke of one Cardinal coach slamming into a Horsemen coach and knocking him to the floor.

According to a school administrator, the police indicated they would review tapes today from the school’s video surveillance system. At least two cameras in the lobby were in position to film the incident, and there was at least one inside the gym.

Garcia gave a statement to a police officer inside the Horsemen’s locker room. But when Robertson head coach Manuel Romero was asked by the media for a comment, he just headed for the exit, looking behind to say that he was told to leave. And Cardinal players were not available to speak to the media afterward.

It has happened before, sometimes at a basketball game in Santa Fe or Las Vegas. It has happened many times at a football game between the schools.

A lot of this was often brought on by fans. Winning or losing at St. Michael’s, Robertson fans always had something to say, and were often told by security to leave the premises. There was often back-and-forth nasty words from the fans in the stands, and Robertson always liked to stir up the Horsemen players.

No doubt there are other fierce rivalries in this state, other states, but up this way, it mostly comes when Robertson and St. Michael’s hook up.

The game itself was important. It decided who travels to district winner Taos Saturday night. It was a close game between two schools who spilt the regular-season.

The game itself had its usual fouls, its usual second-guessing from the coaches, and players, and the packed small gym was noisy throughout, especially in the hectic final minutes.

And as the Robertson fans pointed out while departing, it was a huge in balance with the number of fouls called, 13 on the Horsemen and 18 on the Cardinals. St. Michael’s attempted 23 free throws to Robertson’s 12.

On the court, the Horsemen had to rally from being 11 points behind in the final six minutes. Then, after the final buzzer, players and fans rushed toward the bleachers after words were exchanged. The Horsemen won their third-straight, upped their record to 13-14 and will probably be inserted into the state tournament.

The incident took away another big game from Robertson’s 6-foot-2 senior Arjay Ortiz, the three-year starting quarterback for the football team. He tossed in the game-high 30 points that included 16 of his team’s last 17 points. And the St. Michael’s crowd showed poor sportsmanship by chanting at Ortiz as the final buzzer sounded.

The Cards led the entire way, in front early at 7-0 and taking a 46-35 lead with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. But the Horsemen answered with a 12-1 run that brought a 50-all deadlock. In the final minute, Robertson had a 57-53 advantage when St. Michael’s Victor Otero hit on a 3 to make it a 1-one point lead.

But then the Cardinals got themselves in trouble and it might have cost them the game. When 6-2 sophomore Thomas Wood was fouled by Emiliano Berged of Robertson, he slammed the ball off court, and that brought a technical foul.

So when Wood missed both free throws, junior guard Jevon Montoya converted the two techs to put St. Michael’s ahead for the first time. With two seconds left, Horseman senior Antonio Gabaldon, who was the football quarterback, then connected on two more foul shots to seal the win.

Montoya and Gabaldon scored 14 each and Wood added 12, 11 of which came in the second half. St. Michael’s scored nearly half of its points (29) in the fourth quarter.

Robertson, which was the fourth seed, was playing its third game in three days, having defeated Pojoaque Valley and West Las Vegas along the way. It finished at 12-17 and isn’t expected to be invited to the state tournament.