4A New Mexico High School State Championship

#nmpreps

500 to Start- Champion to Close

The Valley Vikings started the 2019 state basketball tournament at 13 wins and 13 loses, they end the tournament with four straight wins to capture the class 4A blue trophy after defeating number one seeded Los Lunas 37-34. Along their road to blue they also defeated the two seed, Hope Christian, and the three seed, Silver. Not the easiest of paths to winning.

Seyi Oyeku got things going for the Vikings with two scores and a 4-0 early lead over the Tigers. Zanen Zeller hit a three to make it one-point game and get his team on the board at the 5:30 mark.

Later in the opening quarter it was Joseph Dominguez hitting the three for Los Lunas, that one tied the game at 8. Moments later Darius Haywood gave Los Lunas its first lead of the game with a bucket in the lane and with 1:15 the Tigers led 10-8. The lead however was short lived as on the ensuing possession Gio Cassaus buried a three for Valley and that quarter ended with the Vikings ahead 11-10.

After holding the normally high scoring Los Lunas offensive to just 10 first quarter points, the Vikings tightened the screws even further in the second; allowing just seven points. Their offensive however was unable to get it going against the Tigers defense though and at the half it was 20-17 Valley.

In the third quarter Zeller finally got his offense going, pouring in eight points but the rest of the Tigers continued to struggle against the Vikings defense scoring just four points combined. Los Lunas took a 29-27 lead into the fourth and final quarter. Sans the big third quarter for Zeller in the third, the story was the defense of Valley.

In the fourth they held Zeller to only three-points and overall Los Lunas only mustered 5 as a team.

"We've talked about playing defense and keeping it in the 40's and 50's and tonight to keep them [Los Lunas] in the 30's was amazing. My coaches put together a great game-plan and these guys executed it, that was the difference," Valley Head Coach Joe Coleman said afterwards.

Despite the offensive struggles for the Tigers the top seed was far from out of it and in closing seconds had a chance to win it.

After Oyeku who finished the game with 19-points scored in the paint to give the Vikings a 35-34 lead and later they added a pair of freebies to extend to a 37-34 advantage it was not quite over yet. With 2.5 seconds left the Tigers threw the long pass that found Zeller but his running three was just a little too strong and Valley won their first title in the class 4A designation.

"It felt so good, these guys just played so hard. From the start of the tournament against Highland on they stuck together, fought, and played extremely hard. I'm so happy and proud of these guys," Coleman said.

FINAL STATS

Valley: Seyi Oyeku 19 points. Jevon Baker 9 points

16-33 (48%) FG2-11 (18%) 3PT3-6 (50%) FT

4 steals 3 blocks 9 turnovers

Los Lunas: Zanen Zeller 16 points

14-41 (34%) FG6-19 (32%) 3PT0-2 (0%) FT

3 steals 5 blocks 7 turnovers