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Home / Sports News / Boy’s championship game won by undefeated host Santa Fe High over cross-town, district rival Capital in overtime, 48-45, at the Bobby Rodriguez/Capital City basketball tournament played at Demons’ Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium Saturday night, with unbeaten Rio Rancho Cleveland turning back Espanola Valley, 36-33, for the girl’s title

Boy’s championship game won by undefeated host Santa Fe High over cross-town, district rival Capital in overtime, 48-45, at the Bobby Rodriguez/Capital City basketball tournament played at Demons’ Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium Saturday night, with unbeaten Rio Rancho Cleveland turning back Espanola Valley, 36-33, for the girl’s title

By Arnie Leshin 
Arnie Leshin

A run of lead changes mixed with ties and an overtime, brought an anticipated tight boy’s championship game Saturday night at the annual Bobby Rodriguez/Capital City basketball tournament at Santa Fe High’s Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium.

And it was the host, undefeated Demons who won their four straight by getting past cross-town, district rival Capital, 48-45, in OT. It was the initial loss for the Jaguars in four starts.
What kept this into a close contest were several runs followed by responses. Early on, Capital went on top 12-1 and Santa Fe High picked up early personal fouls. Still, it was up by nine with 6-foot-7 junior Fedonta “JB” White, senior guard Cruz Martinez, and senior forward Carlos Dassaro, sidelined with two fouls each. But an aggressive Demon defense kept Capital to only six second quarter points after it led 14-8, and the home side then raced to a 36-30 lead at halftime, with its junior, Cody Garcia,  tossing in a basket as the buzzer sounded. 
 
After the intermission, White went on a run with back-to-back 3s from the perimeter, a driving layup off a pass from Martinez, and added four foul shots and a pair of rebounds and two blocks. But the Jaguars hung around on the play of senior guard Antonio (T.J.) Sanchez and senior Brandon Saiz. Two free throws from Saiz, who had a team-high 14 points, cut the Santa Fe High 7-point lead to 46-45. But with 17.3 seconds left in regulation, Saiz again went to the line for a one-on-one. He made the first to tie things at 46-all. but missing the second forced the overtime. 
 
Demons’ sophomore Paul (P.J.) Lovatocame up with three clutch baskets inside in the final minute of regulation, then added two more in overtime to put his team up 48-45, and that was the score at the final buzzer. Sanchez came away with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. 
 
Third place went to Alamogordo, which won its third of four starts by upending Goddard, 61-53, to drop the Rockets to 2-2.
 
In the clash for fifth place, it was St. Michael’s advancing to 3-1 by edging Valencia, 45-44, and leaving the Jaguars all even at 3-3. A clutch 3-point bucket from Horseman senior Berkeley Reynolds put his team on top in the fading seconds. Freshman Devin Flores turned in the team-high 14 points and senior teammate Rueben Salazar added 10. 
 
Seventh place brought Santa Fe Indian School its first win in four starts via a 57-48 success over winless Los Alamos, which has now dropped its first five games. The Braves trailed after three quarters by four points, but erupted for a 25-14 advantage over the final eight minutes and won going away. Senior Shaun Riley paved the way with 19 points and junior Kobe Garcia contributed 14, eight coming in the last quarter. 
 
In the girl’s title game, it was undefeated Rio Rancho Cleveland winning its fourth straight by getting past once-beaten Espanola Valley (3-1), 36-33. The Sun Devils, behind most of the game, made a late rush by scoring eight points in a row with time winding down, but fell shot of the 11 points needed to force an overtime.
 
It was another cross-town match of district rivals, this one for the girls, with Santa Fe High and Capital playing for third place, and with junior Ethena Silva tossing in a game-high 25 points as the Jags were victorious 58-56, and evened their mark at 2-2, dropping host Demonettes to also 2-2. Junior Rebecca Sorensen added 14 points for Capital, but its clutch basket came on a late 3 from senior Heaven Arcineca
 
Santa Fe High, which received a team high of a dozen points from sophomore Alexis Espinosa converted its first 10 of 11 charity tosses, but missed the mark after that by making good on only 12 of 25 freebies. 
 
Fifth place went to Portales, 54-38, over Los Alamos, as the Rams won their first of three starts while the Hilltoppers fell to 1-3. In the class for seventh place, it was Valencia winning for the first time and improving to 1-4 by rolling over Robertson, 42-26, and the Cardinals now have lost all four starts. 
. . . In other girl’s hoops, St. Michael’s went three overtimes up at Taos’ Oterogym in the Tigers Shootout tournament to emerge victorious 51-47, as freshman Lauryn Pecos forced the first overtime by tossing up a 3 as regulation time ticked down, and then did the same in the third overtime when the Lady Horsemen outscored the home team 6-2. 
Pecos wound up with 14 points, senior Carissa Padilla scored 15, and junior Rachel Morgan added 11 as St.Michael’s bounced back from a 55-48 loss to unbeaten Penasco to advance to 2-3 with a home game on Tuesday versus Bernalillo
Then there was rejuvenated Academy of Technology and The Classics under new head coach Ron Drake remaining undefeated at 3-0 by nipping visiting Albuquerque Cottonwood Classical Prep, 37-34, at the new Phoenix gymnasium. 
 
Charli Koseoglu, an 8th grader, paved the way by turning in game highs of 17 points and 20 rebounds. ATC dominated the glass, with junior Naomi Lujanbringing down 11 and 8th grader PerlaMiramontes scrubbing the boards for nine grabs to go with a dozen points and five steals. The Phoenix play next on Dec, 14 against Mesa Visa in OjoCaliente.  

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