Daniel Sanchez tries to get past Warrior Josh Romero at the net.
Karen Boehler
NMMI Sports Press
Randall Major gets high above a pair of Warriors as he passes the ball.
RUIDOSO — It just wasn’t NMMI’s night Friday, as Ruidoso earned the second place seed in next week’s District 4-4A basketball tournament by pounding the Colts 69-43.
The Colts’ problem was obvious from the start, as almost nothing they sent to the basket went in.
“I think that was one of the main factors in the game, was we could not buy a basket tonight,” said coach Dan Smith. “Shots that have been going down for us: we absolutely could not make one go in tonight. And I don’t know how you can coach that any different.”
The Warriors opened the game with a 3-pointer by Loren Mendez, and never looked back. Peter DeGroot and Chandler Lenz hit a pair of field goals to tie it at 4-4 — after a Ruidoso free throw — with 4:26 remaining in the first quarter, but the Colts only managed four more points in the stanza, trailing 13-8 after one.
Carlos Xibillie fights his way past a pair of Warriors.
The Warriors stretched the lead with six unanswered points to open the second, but NMMI battled, closing within five with 2:35 left in the half and making it 31-24 Ruidoso on a last-second two by Randall Major.
But after the Colts again closed it to five on a third-quarter opening bucket by DeGroot, Ruidoso went on a 13-0 run, and the shellshocked-looking Colts only managed five more points to trail 51-31 after three.
The final quarter was a bit better for the visitors, as NMMI managed 12 points, but when the buzzer sounded, the raucous Warrior fan base had a lot of cheer about.
Smith said the loss wasn’t due to a lack of effort.
“They were playing hard and getting shot opportunities,” he said. “We just couldn’t make anything go down.”
Chandler Lenz shoots for two early in the second quarter.
Major was the only Colt in double figures with 10 points. Three Warriors — Randall Poor Thunder, 17; Josh Romero, 16; and Jonathan Lewis, 14 — hit the double-figure mark.
The loss means the Colts (7-13, 2-4), will finish third in the district, hosting East Mountain in Tuesday’s opening playoff game. (The winner will travel to Ruidoso Thursday.) And despite Friday’s rough loss, Smith is still thinking positive.
“I still like our chances,” he said. “If we could have put the ball in the basket it would have been a different game this evening.”
Junior Varsity
Ruidoso 48, NMMI 45
The junior varsity led their game for almost three quarters, but fell behind early in the fourth and couldn’t quite catch up, falling 48-45 to the Warriors.
The Colts trailed 13-12 after one, but went into halftime up 30-20. Then the Warriors started battling back, tying the game at 35-all after three, and outscoring NMMI 15-12 in the fourth to get the victory.
Emilio Maldonado led NMMI with 14 points.
The junior varsity will wrap up its season Saturday with the District 4-4A JV tournament at the Institute beginning at 10:30 a.m. at both Cahoon Armory and Godfrey Gymnasium.
Peter DeGroot comes up with the ball after a melee on the floor.
Juan Reyna moves past Warrior Josiah Polendo.
Fausto Baranzini is all alone as he goes up for two.
PeterDeGroot goes up for two of his nine points.
