SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Nothing new in the championship games of the annual Ben Lujan Memorial basketball tournament.
For the second-straight year, the boys line up with Bernalillo and host Pojoaque Valley. Same with the girls as undefeated Pojoaque and Penasco meet up again.
And the two teams representing the host school are out to avenge last year’s defeats, with Bernalillo winning handily over the Elks and Penasco turned back the Elkettes in a close contest.
The Spartans and Elks will meet up again in the 6 p m final, and the girls will follow. Bernalillo went all the way to the 4A championship but had to settle for the runner-up finish.
Pojoaque (5-6) is one win away from bettering last year’s entire campaign, so it will have to take advantage of the fan support and put together a stellar effort against 6-2 Spartans.
As for the girls, both are good, with the Elkettes undefeated in nine starts and the Panthers at 7-1. Their game will be the finale of the 4-day tournament played on the Ben Lujan court.
To get this far, Pojoaque won handily in its two starts, and Penasco had to overcome a 10-point Santa Fe Indian School halftime lead to prevail, 49-47. In the other semis, the Elkettes rolled over Dulce, 63-44.
The Bernalillo boys had no problem disposing of Indian School, 76-55, and the Elks carried off a 57-46 triumph.
This put the Braves and Hawks into the consolation round final. Same with the Brave and Dulce girls.
As they did in last season’s Lujan tournament, the Pojoaque teams did their part on their home court, and made for a bigger crowd tonight when both play for the championship.
Indian School also did well getting its two teams into the semifinals, although both lost and settled for the consolation game. Bernalillo’s girls played for fifth place versus Santa Rosa, and the Penasco boys were in the seventh place game against Mesa Vista.
So now it’s down to the three consolation bracket finals and the back-to-back title games.
