SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Even with a dismal time from the foul line and a slump from the field, host Capital’s boys trailed just twice, were locked in three early ties, but held off district and cross-town rival Santa Fe High to carry off the championship trophy in Saturday night‘s final of the annual Al Armendariz basketball tournament, 53-50, at the Jaguar court.
Not matter how the Jags almost blew numerous double-digit leads and missed from the charity stripe much too often, it was a meaningful victory that came exactly one week after they lost in overtime to the Demons in the title game of the Bobby Rodriguez/Capital City tournament played at Santa Fe High.
It was the first loss in seven starts for the Demons, while the Jaguars improved to 6-1.
As it has done in this tournament, Capital picked up quick back-to-back baskets from seniors Antonio “TJ” Sanchez and Seth Arroyos, and that’s when it stayed close as Santa Fe High junior Fedonta “JB” White tossed in a 3, Jags’ senior Chano Herrera followed with a 2, and after Demons’ senior Carlos Dassaro drove in for a 3-point play, it was 6-6, the first of the ties all scored in this same span.
Then came Santa Fe High’s first lead of the night as junior Cody Garcia flipped in a 3 to go up 9-6. But it quickly became a 9-all deadlock when Arroyos converted a free throw and a basket, and then came the visitors second and last lead when Garcia scored to even things at 11-11, with the quarter ending at 13-11 on a basket from Capital senior Elias Rodriguez.
But that was when the Jaguars took over. They outscored the Demons, 15-7, in the next eight minutes, all on balanced scoring, four points each from senior Brandon Saiz, Arroyos, Herrera, two from junior Dominic Luna, and a free throw to end the quarter by junior Angel Parra of the home team.
At halftime, the lead was 28-18, and Capital stayed in front heading into the final quarter, although leads of 31-20, 33-22, and 35-24, became only 35-32 when Garcia hit his second 3 and sophomore teammate Paul Lovato hit a jumper from outside. After Herrera responded with a 3, White’s basket put the deficit at 38-34.
The final quarter began on a Lovato bucket, and it was 38-36, but Luna’s 3 upped the margin to 41-36, and the Demons never got closer than the final score. Sanchez tallied eight points the rest of the game, and his 3 increased the advantage to 48-38 with four minutes left.
It was 50-41 when Saiz scored on a steal and layup, and only a late surge got Santa Fe High behind by the final three points. White came up with five points down the stretch, and a 3-pointer from junior teammate Jaiden Block helped.
So did the poor foul shooting from Capital, missing nine of its last 13 freebies, and converting only 11 of 23 for the contest. The Demons also had a problem from the stripe, with White missed two in a row, and his team making only 3 of its 8 attempts in the last quarter. White and Lovato also spent some time on the bench with personal foul trouble, as did Sanchez.
White wound up with 23 points. He had one of his team’s three 3s. The Jaguars received 12 points each from Sanchez and Herrera, with Arroyos adding 11 and Saiz 10, for 45 of their team’s total points. They dropped in four 3s, two from Herrera. For the Demons, Garcia turned in 10 points, two from the 3.
In the third place game, Espanola’s downfall continued after an impressive first round win, and lost handily to Pecos, 65-41, after the whipping the night before against Capital. The 3-time defending state 3A/2A champion Panthers improved to 4-1 after a close loss to Santa Fe High, while the fading Sundevils fell to 5-3. Xavier Padilla led Pecos with 17 points.
It was Santa Fe Indian School taking fifth place by turning back Kirtland Central, 77-73, in two overtimes to up its record to 3-4 and drop KC to 3-3.
In the second OT, the Braves’ Virgil Valencia, who had a grand total of six 3s in regulation, was good for 3-of-4 free throws, and his team made 17-of-24 for the contest. Valencia had 21 points, four less than teammate Debrylan Candelerio for game honors.
Seventh place went to Tohatchi in a 62-39 rout over district rival Crownpoint. It evened the Tohatchi record at 4-4 and Crownpoint lost for the sixth time in seven starts. The two will meet at least twice more in district play.
