Final Four: New Mexico High School Basketball State Tournament Highlights

Boys Basketball. NMPreps recaps and highlights from the 2023 New Mexico high school basketball state tournament. #nmpreps

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#1 Volcano Vista 48, #5 Organ Mountain 46 - Final

Recap: Kenyon Aguino was simply a man on a mission and he refused to let his team lose. Aguino poured in nearly half of his teams points, finishing with 22 of the 48 including the game winning shot in the closing seconds as Volcano Vista fended off the upset attempt by Organ Mountain 48-46. Organ Mountain led 46-45 with 1:01 to go but three straight turnovers in the face of the Hawks full court pressure doomed the Knights. Anthony Gonzales added 12 points for the Hawks in the winning effort. Brandon Kehres led the Knights with 12 points and right boards while Aiden Pacini added 10 points. The Hawks move on to the 5A title game where it will be Brother vs. Brother, in terms of the Head Coaches as Volcano's Greg Brown will match wits with brother Danny, who leads Sandia. It will be the fourth matchup between the two teams this year, with Volcano Vista winning all three games thus far. Will the fourth time be the charm for Sandia? We'll find out Saturday night at 8pm.

No. 2 Sandia 49, No. 3 Los Lunas - Final

Recap: Furious Los Lunas rally in the closing minutes falls just short as Sandia hangs on for the 49-45 win.

Sandia led 45-30 with 3:43, seemingly having this one on ice but credit to the Tigers for not giving in and fighting all the way to the last whistle. Andrew Hill led the Matadors with 15 points followed by Dalen Moyer with 11 and Thomas Adams with 10. After a 12 point opening half, Jalin Holland was held scoreless in the third quarter and finished the game with 18 points to lead the Tigers and Ezra Guest was the only other Tiger to reach double figures, finishing with 12 points.

Sandia will now sit back and wait to who wins between Volcano Vista and Organ Mountain. The Matadors are staring down a possible forth matchup with the top-seeded Hawks should they prevail.

No. 1 Albuquerque Academy 44, No. 12 Valley 42 - Final

Recap: The Valley Vikings Cinderella story comes to an end, two wins shy of a blue trophy. Top seeded Albuquerque Academy barely snuck by Valley, punching their ticket to the 4A championship game with a 44-42 win.

Joe Jack simply refused to let his Chargers lose this one, putting the team on his back and answering every Valley attempt to upset. Jack finished the game with 20 points to go along with nine rebounds and Dillon McCleskey added 13 points.

Tyler Kozlowski led the Vikings with 20 points and Charles Lopez-Burton chipped in nine. The Chargers will face either Hope Christian or Taos in Saturday's title game.

No. 6 Hope Christian 62, No. 7 Taos 50 - Final

Recap: With 3:32 left in the 4th quarter the game was 47-46 and looking like another classic finish at The PIT (UNM). The Huskies pressured, Taos couldn't control the ball, Hope to the Championship game. The Huskies used a 15-4 run to win the game 62-50 over Taos.

The Hope Christian Huskies received 23 points from Noah Perry and 20 points from Christian Schermerhorn in the win.

Daemon Ely led the Taos Tigers with 24 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Taos ends their season 19-11.

Hope play top-seed Albuquerque Academy on Saturday afternoon for the 4A state championship.

No. 1 St. Michael's 70, No. 4 Sandia Prep 43 - Final

Recap: St. Michael's steamrolled their way into the 3A title game following their decisive 70-43 win over Sandia Prep. The Horsemen steadily pulled away as this one went along with Adam Montoya leading the charge with a game high 24 points while also pulling down seven rebounds. Marco C de Baca added 16 points and Lucas Gurule added 10 points for the Horsemen.

Jaxon Feit put in 15 points for Sandia Prep with Alex Jeffries finishing with 14. St. Michael's will face the winner of Navajo Prep and Robertson on Saturday where the Horsemen will be gunning for state title number 12 in program history.

No.3 Robertson 49, No. 2 Navajo Prep 36 - Final

Recap: For the second straight year the battle for 3A supremacy will come down to Robertson and St. Michael's. The Cardinals, winners of last year championship officially punched their ticket to the title game with a 49-36 win over Navajo Prep. Robertson opened with the games first six points and held the Eagles scoreless through the first four minutes of the game. Navajo Prep did responded with a 8-0 run to finally get on the board and grab the lead. Mateo Contreras nailed a three to put the Cardinals back on top and Robertson would not relinquish that lead as they held on to it the rest of the way. Navajo Prep cut it to one point at 35-34 with 5:03 remaining but the Robertson defense took over from there and allowed only two more points. Robertson now turns their attention to St. Michael's as the Horsemen are the last team standing in their way of a repeat. On the year St. Michael's has won all three games between the two rivals. Round four is set for Saturday at noon.

Contreras led the Cardinals with 19 points and Jesse Gonzales finished with nine. For the Eagles it was Jude Thomas as the high scorer, finishing with 17 points and Orion King added eight.

No. 1 Pecos 75, No. 4 Menaul 60 - Final

Recap: Hit your FTs. This one had a total of 46 FTs between the two teams. Pecos avoided a third quarter comeback attempt by Menaul beating the 4-seed, 75-60. After trailing by 15 points at the half the Menaul Panthers stormed back with a 14-2 run to cut the lead to four points. Pecos used a big fourth quarter to secure the win.

Pecos was led by Jodaiah Padilla with 30 points, 6 rebounds. Malik Barrens (14 points, 3 rebounds) and Aidan Holton (13 points) also in double-figures for the Pecos Panthers.

Menaul ends their season 22-10. Prashant Chouhan, 17 points, and Abhishek Yadav, 15 points, were the only players in double-figures.

Pecos will play 2-seed Academy for Technology and the Classics on Saturday morning for the 2A state championship.

No. 2 Academy for Technology 44, No. 3 Texico 42 - Final

Recap: A game that was led by ATC throughout its entirety nearly went in favor of the three seed Texico Wolverines. ATC led for 28:31 minutes but with :40.1 left Jahvon Askew hit a key jump shot to take a brief 42-41 lead. ATC was quickly fouled and tied the game at 42 after going 1 of 2. ATC had a pivitol steal with :8.7 left in the game that eventually led to a Ryan Garcia bucket in the paint for the final lead, 44-42.

Rocky Miller (14 points) and Julian Bernardino (13 points) led the way ATC in the win. Ayden Carey paced the way for Texico with 9 points.

ATC will move to Saturday's state championship game and await the winner of Pecos-Menaul. Texico ends their season 17-13.