Rio Rancho loses close one to St. Michaels; the gantlet continues

SANTA FE — The fifth-ranked Rio Rancho Rams have played some of the toughest teams in the state recently, and Jan. 15 was no different in Santa Fe.

The Rams (11-4) journeyed to St. Michael's for a matchup with the Horsemen (11-3) in the rowdy Tiptop gymnasium. The Rams lost by three in a final score of 66-69.

Leading the way for the Rams in scoring was sophomore forward Noah Lovato, who scored a team-high 16 points. Lovato also logged eight rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.

On the defensive side, junior forward Cayden Richardson had a day deflecting a ton of shots. Richardson finished the night with eight points, eight rebounds, a steal and four blocks.

Unfortunately, the Rams could not overcome a plethora of turnovers and fouls.

"They played harder than us. They played tougher than us. We had 26 fouls and 26 turnovers," Rams head coach Wally Salata said. "You can't beat good basketball teams with those numbers. In the first half, we did a very poor job breaking their press."

The Rams played from behind most of the game. However, in the fourth quarter, some of their players began to catch fire.

Senior guard Kai Bradford scored nine points in the fourth quarter, and junior shooting guard Jordan McNeely contributed eight of his 12 points in the final quarter.

The Rams shrunk the margin to one possession with seconds remaining in the game.

St. Michael's missed a free throw, Lovato got the rebound and dished it to McNeely, who dribbled before getting fouled hard at the half-court mark by a St. Michael's player; the official did not call the foul. After Salata voiced his displeasure, the referee gave him a technical foul with three seconds remaining.

"The official did not call a foul. I was very disappointed with the call. I can't remember the last technical I received. I will fight for our team when I feel an official makes the wrong call at the end of the game," Salata said. "No excuses. We will watch tape in the morning and try to fix our mistakes."

Not suiting up for the Rams due to illness were juniors Wyatt Rodriguez, Chris Lucero and Kayden Decker.

The Rams next bout will be against the visiting Roswell Coyotes (13-4) Jan. 17. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at RRHS.

"We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We play the sixth-ranked team (Roswell) on Friday. They press more than St. Michael's, so we have to be ready. Then we play Farmington, who is 12-4, on Tuesday. Then we play No. 1 Volcano Vista next Friday. So the schedule gets tougher. We will find out how tough our players are in the next three games," Salata said.

After Roswell, the Rams will play the 11-4 Farmington Scorpions, then the top-ranked Volcano Vista Hawks squad (12-2). Volcano Vista is currently ranked 64th in the country.