Storm blow past Jaguars in round one

CLEVELAND 91, ATRISCO HERITAGE 75

RIO RANCHO – A fast start didn’t materialize into much for 10-seed Atrisco Heritage as the Jaguars fell to seven-seed Cleveland Storm 91-75 on Saturday night in Rio Rancho.

The Jags came out energized, jumping to an immediate 7-0 lead that left the Storm reeling. But Storm point guard Remy Albrecht found his groove and the game quickly flipped.

“I played alright. Some of my shots fell,” said a modest Albrecht, who had 25 points in the game. “The key was to stop [Jaguar’s leading scorer Latavious Morris] and that’s what we did.”

Morris finished the night with 16 points.

It wasn’t long before the Storm deep shot woke up.

AJ Vigil started it. He hit three shots from distance in the first half. Albrecht followed that with two of his own.

A seven-point lead for the Jaguars quickly evaporated and by halftime the score was 41-35 Cleveland.

The real damage from three-point land came in the second half at the hands of Cleveland’s Brycen Bowie.

"This is [Bowie's] night. He was incredible," said Albrecht.

Bowie nailed eight three-pointers on the night. That includes seven in the second half, two of which were in the final minute of the game to put the last nail in the Jaguar coffin.

"I feel like we, as a team, played amazing,” said Bowie. “It was just my night. I was hitting everything and my teammates kept finding me.”

By the end of the night, Vigil had hit six three-pointers of his own, including a fitting last-second buzzer shot.

“I’m just so happy for these guys,” said Storm head coach Zack Cole.

The Jags season comes to a close with a 19-11 record, good for second in 5A-5.

The Storm are heading to the Pit for the quarterfinals on Wednesday night, where they’ll take on the winner of (two-seed) Hobbs vs (15-seed) Las Cruces.