The 8th-seeded Santa Fe High’s boys hit the road

Santa Fe High’s boys saw their basketball season conclude with Tuesday night‘s 60-49 loss at top-seeded Rio Rancho Cleveland, but Pecos, Robertson, Espanola Valley, Gallup, Navajo Prep and Melrose all have both their girls and boys still in the hunt for state championships.

The Panthers teams were able to play their openers at home, but today it’s a neutral court for both in the 2A semifinals, the undefeated, 2nd-seeded girls (12-0) take on also unbeaten Tatum (10-0), the 5th seed, at the familiar court of district rival Santa Rosa, and the 3rd-seeded boys (11-2) meet up with also undefeated, 2nd-seeded Jal (13-0) at Portales.

In the other 2A boys semis, top-seeded Gallup Rehoboth Christian (13-0) faces 4th-seeded Mescalero Apache (12-1), and In the other girls semis, it is 6th-seeded Clayton (7-3) of Pecos’ district upsetting 3rd-seeded Mescalero Apache, 46-38, and now taking on 2nd-seeded Lordsburg, which eliminated previously undefeated 8th-seeded Academy of Technology and The Classics, 52-37. The winners clash in the Friday championship contest at University of New Mexico’s Dreamstyle Arena.

In 3A, Robertson also plays today in the semis, and the Cardinals will have home court advantage. The unbeaten, top-seeded Cardinals boys (13-0) go against 4th-seeded Albuquerque Sandia Prep (10-1), and the 6th-seeded girls are 9-4 and take on 7th-seeded Tohatchi (9-4), which stunned 2nd-seeded West Las Vegas in the opening round.

The Dons had beaten out Robertson for first place in District 2. The other boys semifinals sends 3rd-seeded Navajo Prep (12-1) against 2nd-seeded Hot Springs (12-1), and for the girls, it will be No. 1 seed Navajo Prep versus 4th-seed Hatch Valley (12-1), and the finals will be Saturday at UNM.

In 4A, Espanola’s 2nd-seeded girls (11-1) take the court at home Thursday in a semifinals match versus 6th-seeded Kirtland Central (10-1), and the 4th-seeded boys (9-3) travel to No. 1 Albuquerque Del Norte (10-1). The other boys semis pairs 3rd-seeded Gallup (10-1) with 2nd-seeded Artesia (10-3), and the other girls semis has No. 1 seed Portales (10-1) meeting up with 4th-seeded Gallup (12-1). The finals will be played Saturday at UNM.

In 1A, the finals are set for Thursday and Melrose is in both. It’s two unbeatens in the boys, with top-seeded Magdalena (13-0) meeting up with 2nd-seeded Melrose (12-0), and in the girls, undefeated top-seed two-school Roy/Mosquero (13-0) goes against 3rd-seeded Melrose (11-1).

Santa Fe High bowed out after St. Michael’s in 3A and Monte del Sol in 2A also lost on day one. The Demons wound up at 9-3, but were effective in the first quarter with a 8-0 run, and hung around with only a 34-33 gap at halftime against the 12-1 Storm, which now plays 4th-seeded Albuquerque Atrisco Heritage (9-2) in Thursday’s semifinals, with the finals set for Saturday at UNM.

After connecting on 14 of its first 31 shots, Santa Fe High hit a cold spell by missing 17 of its last 33 attempts, and with that Cleveland went on a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter and maintained and stayed in front until the final buzzer. The other boys semis sends unbeaten, 2nd-seeded Las Cruces (13-0) against 2nd-seeded Roswell (10-2), which advanced via a 2-0 forfeit over 7th-seeded Carlsbad.

In 5A girls semifinals Thursday, Hobbs now goes against 4th-seeded Los Lunas (12-1) and 6th-seeded Albuquerque Eldorado (7-2), which upset previously unbeaten 3rd-seeded Las Cruces Centennial, meets up with undefeated, 2nd-seeded Albuquerque Volcano Vista (11-0).

After connecting on 14 of the first 31 shots, Santa Fe High hit a cold spell by missing 17 of its last attempts, and with that Cleveland went on a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter and maintained the advantage until the final buzzer, while its opponent, Albuquerque Atrisco Heritage (9-2) had ousted Sandia. In the other semis, 2nd-seeded Roswell won a 2-0 forfeit over 7th-seeded Carlsbad and 3rd-seeded, unbeaten Las Cruces (13-0) eliminated 6th-seeded Los Lunas from the Demons’ district, with its semis also on Thursday and the finals are Saturday at UNM.

As for Espanola, its girls had no problem rolling over 7th-seeded Albuquerque St. Pius X, 62-36, and its boys handily disposed of 5th-seeded Kirtland Central, 62-40, to gain the Thursday semifinals.

There were 17 schools that had both girls and boys qualifying. Now six remain, five have split games, and six have been ousted. Still undefeated among the girls are Pecos, Tatum, Hobbs, Volcano Vista, Navajo Prep and Roy/Mesquero. The remaining unbeaten boys are Magdalena, which got tired of losing to Pecos in 2A and became a 1A entry, Melrose, Robertson, Las Cruces, and Rehoboth Christian. Magdalena also moved on via a 2-0 forfeit over 8th-seeded Pine Hill, which was 1-10 but did win its district.

The girls in 1A, 2A, 4A and 5A had their top four seeds emerge victorious, while in 3A Robertson and Tohatchi defeated higher seeds.

In the boys, only 4A accomplished this.