SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Maybe the Los Lunas boys weren’t too happy about being currently seeded behind District 5-5A opponent Santa Fe High, and so they took care of business for a third-straight win over the Demons in Friday night‘s 74-60 district finals at the Tigers.
And so when the final seedings are announced Sunday night by the New Mexico Activities Association, it’s a certainty that Los Lunas, now No. 11, will jump past the present No. 6 Demons.
Now 20-8, it was a hot shooting night for the Tigers, but it took awhile before they disposed of the visitors.
It was the Demons up 42-37 when Los Lunas began a big run by making good on 9-of-9 shots from the field and converting 4-of-4 free throws to claim a 65-53 advantage. Overall, the Tigers hit on their last 22 of 24 shots that included a marksman 13-for-15 charity tosses.
“We didn’t play a bad game,” said Santa Fe High School Zack Cole, “we just didn’t do it enough. But when a team is hitting that high a percentage from beyond the arc, from the field and at the foul line, that’s hard to overcome.”
Tigers’ Jamian Perez did a great deal of the damage with a game-high 36 points that included six 3s, and it was he who cut a 42-39 gap to a Los Lunas lead late in the third quarter, and maintained it 51-47 heading into the final quarter.
It was midway through that quarter when Demons’ senior Paul Lovato left the court when he landed awkwardly on his right hand on a drive to the basket. He was to have this examined Saturday.
Santa Fe High hung around as the Tigers penetrated and hit from outside. It had several leads, but it never took long before Los Lunas went on sharpshooting runs to get in front, and down the stretch it was too much for the Demons (22-5) to keep up with.
As for the state tournament seeding, the Tigers look for something between No. 6 to No. 8, and Santa Fe High maybe No. 12 to No. 14.
