St. Michael’s, hit hard by graduation, relies on senior Thomas Wood and sophomore Lucas Coriz to turn back visiting Robertson, 60-51, Friday night and go 4-0 in District 2-3A and 13-7 overall as Wood and Coriz combine for 29 points

Granted, St. Michael’s graduated eight seniors, but its boys basketball team is back on the same road it traveled last year after Friday night‘s 60-51 win over visiting Robertson.

It was last season that head coach Dave Rodriguez’ team went undefeated through its District 2-3A schedule until it lost at West Las Vegas in the regular-season game on the road.

That was a bummer, but the Horsemen recovered to win for the third time over second place Santa Fe Indian School to clinch the top spot, then finally lost to the Braves in the state semifinals.

Now it’s a younger squad, but one with enough experience and talent to again be a threat for state honors, and it showed against a good Cardinals team led by 5-foot-6 sophomore guard Matthew Gonzales that arrived at 14-5overall and dropped to 2-2 in district.

And there stands St. Michael’s unbeaten in four district starts and 13-7 overall. Next stop is at troublesome West Las Vegas Wednesday night, and first place is at stake, but the Horsemen are gaining more confidence each time out after getting past the .500 mark, and after a fairly tough non district schedule.

It was the one-two punch of St, Michael’s senior Thomas Wood and sophomore Lucas Coriz that paved the way to this tough triumph. They and depth did the trick versus an undermanned Robertson lineup.

But it became even more undermanned when Gonzales, with 20 points, picked up his third personal foul in the second quarter and went to the bench. When he returned in the third quarter he was hit with his fourth personnel on a rather controversial call at mid court, and after he and and his head coach Manuel Romero protested, he was handed a technical for his fifth foul and ejected.

That was a blessing for Rodriguez’ team. No Gonzales to worry about, especially since he became red-hot in the third quarter by scoring eight-straight points that included back-to-back 3s to bring the Cards a 41-37 lead with three minutes remaining in the quarter.

As for the fourth quarter play that sat him down for good, Coriz, who also faced Gonzales on the football field, picked up a loose ball and began to take it to the basket, but when he apparently lost his balance and fell while being guarded by Gonzales, a foul was whistled to Gonzales, and he was outraged, argued as did Romero from the bench and the faithful Cardinal fans who made the ride up I-25 for yet another rivalry contest between the schools.

Now there was seven minutes to go in the contest and the visitors were minus Gonzales.

Despite this, St. Michael’s couldn’t break away because of poor foul shooting. And when sophomore guard Devin Flores converted one-of-two free throws to cut the gap to 41-40 with two minutes left, it added to his team making only 11 of 21 charity tosses in the second half. During one stretch, it could only toss in four of 11 freebies and the Cards were still hanging around.

Add to this, 24 Horsemen turnovers,

Except that without Gonzales, they had their own problems in making good on only three of their final 15 attempts from the floor. Sill, they got within 48-46 before the home side went on a 7-0 run helped by Wood’s 3-of-4 free throws. He and Coriz combined for 29 points and the football quarterback also scrubbed the boards for 10 rebounds to go with four steals.

Next comes the often dismal ride to the Dons, who are 4-0 in district and 12-7 overall. Then there’s slumping Indian School at 10-9 and 0-3. Raton (11-9 and 1-2) was looking good until being routed by visiting St. Michael’s, and at 5-9 and 0-3 is Santa Fe Prep.

And the Horsemen are again on target to win district, the rest is up to them, and that includes the Feb. 14 return game at Robertson.

In other boy’s games, Taos, leading the field in 4A, turned in a 85-75 high scoring victory at Los Alamos to advance to 15-5 overall and 3-0 in District two. The Hilltoppers fell to 3-14 and 1-1.

In a 3A surprise, top-ranked Hot Springs (17-3) was upset by visiting Cobre (11-8), 47-44.

Then there was 18th ranked 5A Albuquerque Cibola (9-9) stunning 2nd ranked Rio Rancho Cleveland (17-2) by a score of 64-60, and Albuquerque Volcano Vista (16-3) winning 50-47 over Rio Rancho High to drop the Rams to 10-10.