SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
After winning their boys basketball District 5-5A tournament quarterfinals at home Monday night, Capital and Santa Fe High hit the road for the Wednesday semifinals.
The undersized Jaguars won their fifth in a row by rolling past Albuquerque High, 71-49, and the Demons with size won their second straight by upending Albuquerque Manzano, 56-46, for the third time.
Now 16-10, Capital travels to Los Lunas. Santa Fe High, at 17-10, heads down to Albuquerque Rio Grande, which it has lost to three out of four times and is 15-11. The Tigers, who on their website roster hides their players size and statistics, at least reveal they are 21-6 and 1-1 versus the Jags.
Earlier in the season, Ben Gomez’ Capital team had tossed aside their lack of height and won their first six of eight starts that included five straight.
But now, with the best it can stretch with 6-foot senior Isaiah Ortega, 5-11 junior Nathaniel Ortiz, and 5-10 senior Javier Martinez, with the only downside being an ankle injury to Ortega in the third quarter.
He usually provides the Jaguars with some size to matchup against opposing post players. If he can’t go, it would leave Gomez with just Ortiz and 5-10 sophomore Elijah Dominguez in the middle.
“We will have to take care of business again,” said the long-time coach. “Our issues had been that we weren’t scoring, and we were getting open looks. We were playing decent defense and getting stops, but you’re working extra hard to get baskets and they’re not going in.”
But with quality teamwork existing, Capital has pieced the parts together again. The streak began with a 72-64 win over the crosstown Demons back on Feb. 14. Then came a last-second win over Manzano.
This win came on the strength of shot making from 5-9 senior Izaya Santiago-Valencia. He tossed in a pair of outside shots that included one from beyond the arc. He set the stage for a steal and layup from 5-6 senior guard Isaac Ortega, followed by an Ortega put-back.
The Bulldogs took their last lead at 17-16 with 5:10 left in the first half. The Jags then tallied 13 of the next 18 points to gain a 29-22 advantage on a Santiago-Valencia triple with 56 seconds remaining at the intermission, led 29-24, and began the third quarter with a 16-4 run to seal the game.
At Toby Roybal Memorial gymnasium, Santa Fe High trailed 13-12 after a quarter, took at 28-23 at the half, increased it to 43-34 after three, and were was never threatened.
“We were able to get our transition game going in the second quarter,” said Demons head coach Zack Cole. “In the second half we managed to take advantage of their turnovers.”
Rob Martinez, a 6-foot-4 senior power forward, led Santa Fe High with a 13 points, 6-2 junior guard Lukas Turner added a dozen, and 6-1 senior wing tossed in nine.
Now the Demons have to figure out how to contain the Ravens. They lost to them twice at Rio Grande in Albuquerque, and once on a neutral court, and recently defeated them in the final seconds at home.
Capital had lost 60-43 at Los Lunas, but avenged that via a recent 47-45 thriller at home. Prior to their present win skein, the Jaguars had lost five straight.
