One team wins first title in 45 years, the other wins first title ever.
A couple of long, long championship-less stretches ended when the boys basketball season wrapped up with the state tournaments in March. Roswell High, by grabbing the Class 4A title, won for the first time in in 45 years while Fort Sumner took its first crown in school history by winning in 1A.
At The Pit in Albuquerque, Roswell (23-7) had to go through district rival Artesia to claim the 4A crown. The victorious Coyotes got 18 points from Keydrick Allen and 16 more from A.J. Peralta in outlasting the Bulldogs 59-50.
Roswell had only a one-point lead at intermission, but it pulled away in the second half. It was the school's first basketball championship, boys or girls, since 1964.
"I was born in October of 1964 and their last championship was in March of '64," said Roswell coach Britt Cooper. "I told them they have the chance to do something special. Maybe they'll start thinking that the southern part of the state can be known for something besides football."
Artesia (23-9) had won a marathon three-overtime game over top-seeded Espanola Valley in the semifinals, but star Derek Montoya was held to only eight points in the 3A title game. Antonio Valdez led the Bulldogs with 17 points while Ryan Elkins added 10.
"I think Montoya was definitely spent, since he played so well the other night," Cooper said.
In the Class 5A championship game, La Cueva earned the boys blue trophy only a few hours after the La Cueva girls also became champs on Saturday (3/14). The Bears, seeded fourth in the draw, knocked off Highland 56-52.
Troy Ramos, who transfered from Santa Fe before the season, led La Cueva (25-7) with 22 points. His three-point play with 2:40 left in the game gave the Bears a 42-40 lead and La Cueva held on for the rest of the contest. Highland (26-7), the top-seeded team in the tourney, had defeated the Bears in a regular season meeting which was part of a midseason stretch where La Cueva won only six of its 11 encounters.
In the tournament, however, the eventual champs recovered from a 16-point deficit to win a quarterfinal game against Clovis before conquering rival Eldorado in the semfinals.
The Class 3A championship came down to the two favorites as top-seeded Hope Christian took on St. Michael's - the second-seeded team. The Huskies showed why they were the favorites as Hope Christian won its 10th state basketball title with a 55-44 victory.
St. Michael's (23-8) held a 35-33 lead in the second half, but Hope (28-3) took command mostly through a superior inside presence. Down the stretch, the Huskies seized the lead with a 10-0 run and got most of their buckets within a five-foot radius of the basket.
Christian Schlenker, a 6-4 junior, scored 18 points for the winners and grabbed six rebounds. Arren Wells, a 6-6 freshman, also snared six boards and scored 13 points.
In the Class 2A tournament, among the teams favored to run the table was top-seeded Mesilla Valley, second-rated Santa Rosa and third-seeded Mesa Vista.
Somehow semi-forgotten was the defending champ in 2A. But Texico (29-3), seeded fourth overall, overcame the doubters for a 48-46 victory over rival Santa Rosa in the finals.
After the title contest, Wolverines' 6-3 sophomore Lucas Walthers said his team couldn't help but being a little miffed over not being regarded as a favorite.
"A little bit," Walthers said. "But I knew we could get back here to the state championship game."
In a 46-46 game, with 37 seconds remaining, Texico senior Mario Posada hit the front end of a one-and-one for a one point lead. Jeff Reeves, Santa Rosa's scoring leader with 24 seconds left, then missed a pair of free throws before Wolverines junior Seth Bailey tacked on another free throw with :13 on the scoreboard.
Santa Rosa (28-5), which had upended Texico in the District 6-2A title game just before the state tourney, had one more chance to tie or win. But Ricardo Roybal's three-pointer went astray in the closing seconds and the Wolverines soon were celebrating.
"I think it's a little better because it's back-to-back and it's against a district rival," said Bailey, comparing this year's win to last year's title. "We know their names, they know our names. We know their moves, they know our moves.
"It just comes down to bouncing the ball," he added.
The Class 1A championship may have been contested among the state's smallest schools, but it was one of the most exciting title games.
On the bad end of a three-point ballgame, Springer had a chance to tie Fort Sumner when Jesus Urquijo let a three-pointer fly at the buzzer. It didn't go, but Urquijo was fouled - giving him three shots from the charity stripe with no time on the clock.
Urquijo cleanly swished the first shot. The second drew a little iron but fell through. His third shot, however, deflected off to the left and Urquijo slumped to the floor where he had stood alone while Fort Sumner players jubilantly celebrated the end of the game.
The Foxes won their first basketball title in school history with a 67-66 victory at The Pit.
"I said to myself that I hope he misses at least one of those, because I didn't know if we could have survived overtime," Fort Sumner coach John Wootton said.
A fast-paced entertaining ballgame, in which the teams combined for 81 points and ten 3-pointers in the first half, slowed down and turned into high drama in the end.
With Fort Sumner (20-9) holding a 67-64 lead after Barrett Williamson made one of two free throws with five seconds remaining, Springer (27-3) rushed the ball up court for a final 3-point attempt. Urquijo got the chance and, although his trey was far off the mark, Williamson was called for a foul with no time remaining.
"First off, Jesus - that's a great thing he did making two out of three. I'm sure there's some collegiate and NBA players who wouldn't have even hit the first," Springer Jimmy Apodaca said. "It didn't end the way I wanted, but Jesus ended up playing in The Pit and that's great."
"(You're) a helluva player; keep it up," related Fort Sumner's Berry Stinnett on his words of encouragement for the disconsolate Urquijo after the game.
Stinnett led the Foxes, who were the fifth seed in the 1A draw, with 22 points while teammate Rawley Stallard added 21.
For Springer, senior Johnny Chavez tallied 23 and sophomore Isaiah De Herrera contributed 21.
The Red Devils, as expected, started the game by shooting at every open opportunity. De Herrera, who set the single game New Mexico state record for making 3-pointers this season with 14, hit a trey with three minutes left in the first quarter and second-seeded Springer had opened up an 18-9 advantage.
Fort Sumner, willing to run-and-gun with the Devils, responded by registering a 10-2 run to trim the lead to one. The Foxes opened its first lead of note by starting the second half by opening a 49-43 advantage.
The six-point lead would be Fort Sumner's largest of the game.
Down the stretch, junior Rawley Stallard aggressively took the ball to the hole in three instances as his team tried to stem Springer's last charge.
"The thing about Rawley is that he got into a car wreck earlier this season and he's had headaches ever since," Wooton said. "He played the whole game with a severe headache, but he stepped up."
Wootton was actually the Foxes' coach back in 1977 when Fort Sumner lost in the semifinals to Cuba and then beat McCurdy in a consolation game.
"They had third-place games back in those days, so I'm still undefeated in the Pit," Wootton noted with a wry smile.
