Capital sweeps Albuquerque Manzano

It hasn’t been one of Capital’s better basketball seasons, but it was satisfying to come away with a District 5-5A sweep of Albuquerque Manzano on Saturday.

The Jaguars boys turned in a 49-39 home victory and the girls did their part by getting past the Monarchs, 47-44, on the road.

The boys picked up nine points each from Xavier Martinez, Anthony Alvez and Francisco Diaz. They led 13-10 after one quarter, is was deadlocked at halftime 15-15, but Capital outscored the visitors, 34-24, over the final two quarters to advance to 11-15 overall and 2-8 in district. Manzano is now 6-18 and 3-7.

As for the Jags’ girls, they had a close call. They were down 8-6 after a quarter, 19-17 at halftime, 27-25 heading into the final quarter, but outscored the home team 24-19 in a high-scoring last eight minutes. Shania Gallegos and Amerie Ramos tallied nine points a piece as Capital upped its overall mark to 7-19 and is 4-6 in district, while the Monarchs dropped to 3-21 and 2-8.

Pecos also swept in a District 6-2A doubleheader at Texico, the girls winning the opener 40-33, and the boys 57-47 for their 10th straight win, the last loss coming at 4A Taos, 57-48.

It put the Panther girls at 11-13 overall and 2-4 in district. They led 14-13 at the intermission, and 28-20 after three quarters in dropping Texico to 6-17 overall and winless in six district starts.

The Panther boys are now 6-0 in district 20-6 overall. For Texico, it fell to 12-11 and 3-3.

At Santa Fe High, the boys romped over Albuquerque Rio Grande, 73-25, and remained in District 5-5A second place behind Los Lunas, who swept both games versus the now 20-4, 8-2 Demons. The Ravens dropped to 4-20 overall.

It was 19-10 Santa Fe High after one quarter, but Rio Grande was shut out in the second and was thus behind 37-10 at the half. The Demons then outscored the visitors 36-15 over the last two quarters.

At St. Michael’s in 2-3A, the girls game had Santa Fe Indian School hanging around in second place behind Robertson via a 45-31 success over the Lady Horsemen. The Braves rose to 17-5 overall and 6-2 in district as senior Jordan Torres tossed in 17 points and senior teammate took down seven boards. St. Michael’s fell to 8-17 and 2-6.

But the Horsemen boys continued to soar after opening at 0-10, this time gaining a 55-52 triumph over Indian School in district play to push their way to 9-13 overall, 6-3 in 2-3A, and in quest of the runner-up spot as well as handing Robertson its lone district loss earlier in the comeback campaign. Senior Devin Flores had the team-high 16 points for St. Michael’s and Leighton Galvan tossed in the game-high 21 for the Braves.

Monte del Sol’s boys closed their season with a 68-56 defeat to Estancia in 2-2A play at IAIA gymnasium.

Said head coach Ralph Casaus” “My kids played well against one of the better teams in Class AA. It was close most of the way, with both teams intense. We were down in the last quarter, began to foul, and the Bears converted 11 for 17 from the foul line.”

The Dragons were tied 15-all after the first quarter, trailed 31-29 at halftime, and 47-40 after three quarters. Seniors Kevin Enriquez and Xandro Zubia turned in 22 points each for Monte del Sol.

“I was very happy with this team,” Casaus Csaid. “They worked very hard, were very competitive.”

The Dragons girls were stomped on, 50-7, versus Estancia, were scoreless in the opening quarter, trialed 15-3 at the half, but the Bears stretched it to 32-5, heading into the fourth quarter as Monte del Sol wound up at 4-17 overall and 2-8 in district. Estancia concluded at 8-15 overall and 5-3 in district.