NM HIGH SCHOOL BOYS DISTRICT 2-3A SEMIIFINALS

With its dismal start now history, the rejuvenated St. Michael’s boys basketball team now heads for Robertson tonight in quest of the District 2-3A championship.

But first things first, which makes this even more amazing when you have to realize that these 3rd-seeded Horsemen have gone from 0-10 and 2-12 starts to bolt through its schedule, and with the 50-40 triumph up at 2nd-seeded Raton Friday night, are at a remarkable 13-13 as they take on the Cardinals for a third time.

The St. Michael’s upwards streak actually began when Robertson arrived at Perez-Shelly Memorial gymnasium on the day that long-time assistant Horsemen coach Gerard Garcia informed the players that head coach Dave Rodriguez was on administrative leave.

Then they went out and turned a 40-22 third quarter deficit into overtime and a stunning turnabout win for St. Michael’s. Garcia has been in command since the Horsemen have won 13 of 14, and before that when at 0-10, turned in back-to-back wins over Crownpoint and Albuquerque Bosque School at the tournament they hosted.

Then they became the only team in district to defeat the Cardinals. So they are all even after Robertson won the rematch at home.

Along the way, who knows if there was much talk about the state tournament, but Garcia kept coaching and St. Michael’s kept winning. No doubt now that these Horsemen will be heading for the state tournament when the New Mexico Activities Association announces the state seeding Sunday night.

Most of the time, this surge has been led by senior Devin Flores, and at Raton he had the game-high 23 points. The team quickly built a 12-5 lead after one quarter and was up 23-16 at halftime.

“That was a main point of emphasis going into this game,” Garcia said. “We needed to step it up and get some energy, which we did. We had a lot of deflections and a lot of steals for easy layups.”

It was the third time that the Tigers and Horsemen played and both had won by 10 points, but in the tie-breaking point differential, it favored Raton and thus the back-to-back trips for surging St. Michael’s. But to this team, it didn’t matter, it was always on the road to winning games and leaving that dreadful start way behind.

While Flores has been the main man with his versatility and experience, it still has balance, with other players turning in big games, bringing confidence and leadership, and now it’s them and rival Robertson with the district title and the state tournament right in front of them.

Believe it because so far it’s been a great run for St. Michael’s and hopefully it will continue.