Stellar senior athlete Arjay Ortiz leads visiting Las Vegas Robertson in tonight’s District semifinals against St. Michael’s

Stellar senior athlete Arjay Ortiz leads visiting Las Vegas Robertson in tonight’s District 2-4A semifinals against St. Michael’s, with the survivor to play at district winner Taos District 2-5A semis doubleheader at Capital, with the Jaguar girls facing Albuquerque Academy in the opener and the Jag boys meeting up with Albuquerque Del Norte

By Arnie Leshin

He’s back and remains a threat.

That’s Las Robertson’s 6-foot-2 senior Arjay Ortiz, who was one of the better quarterbacks in the state, and St. Mchael’s confirms that. Now he’ll be in the Perez-Shelley Memorial gymnasium when the Cardinals visit the Horsemen tonight in the District 2-4A boy’s semifinals.

The winner gets district winner Taos in Saturday’s final with hopes of gaining the state tournament. While the Tigers are an automatic for this,
St. Michael’s or Robertson might have to win this one to get an invite.

But first things first. In Robertson’s 67-59 win at West Las Vegas Wednesday night, it was Ortiz again running the show. He scored the game-high 33 points on 8-of-16 tries, tossed in 14 free throws, included a trio of 3s, and blocked three shots against the arch-rival Dons.

The Horsemen had a good stretch run to gain a runner-up spot and get to host the semis. The two have split the regular-season games, with Ortiz a little under the weather, and the Cardinals losing at home. But in the rematch at St. Michael’s, it was Ortiz leading the way to a victory this time.

On the other side of town, second place Capital faces Albuquerque Del Norte, which defeated Albuquerque Academy to advance.

This district semis is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start, and will follow the girl’s district semifinals matching runner-up Capital against Academy, which is slated for a 5 o’clock start.

Both winners will take to the road to meet up with Espanola in the district finals. The Sundevil boys are hoping for a No. 1 seed. The girls won’t be anywhere near this. Meanwhile, the Jaguar boys are expected to get a top-5 bid, and the girls need a win tonight to receive an invite.

In another 2-4A girl’s game Wednesday, Pojoaque came out on top of visiting West Las Vegas, 56-49, and will now play in the final at district winner Robertson.