Son of New Mexico coach Steve Alford is all-time single-season leader.
Bryce Alford became New Mexico's all-time single-season basketball scoring leader on Wednesday night.
Bryce Alford, La Cueva
Photo courtesy of Marty Saiz
However, the son of University of New Mexico coach Steve Alford closed his stellar career in heartbreak as
La Cueva (Albuquerque, N.M.) was upset by
Las Cruces (N.M.), 64-58, during the Class 5A state quarterfinals. La Cueva held a comfortable 13-point lead, 28-15, at the mid-point of the second quarter.
The 6-foot-3 senior guard connected on just 11-of-28 shots from the field, but he finished with 33 points to conclude his final campaign with 1,050 points (37.5 average). The state record of 1,033 by 7-foot Nick Pino of Santa Fe St. Michael's had stood since 1963.
With tears streaming down his face, Alford
told the Albuquerque Journal, "It really doesn't mean anything to me. I'm glad I got to do it at La Cueva. I felt good with all my jump shots, but they did a good job of contesting them. It just wasn't meant to be tonight."
Trevor Noel paced the balanced Las Cruces attack with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Kai Williams added 15 points and
Joseph Garza had 14.
Interestingly, Steve Alford missed out on becoming Indiana's single-season high school basketball scoring leader by just a single point when he
poured in 1,078 points in 29 games (37.2 average) for New Castle during the 1982-83 season.
Bryce Alford will join his father and an older brother next season at the University of New Mexico.
