Storm take top trophy, Rams grab 2nd in big tournament weekend

RIO RANCHO — The Sandia girls, the Cleveland boys, the Mayfield girls and the Atrisco Heritage boys all won tournament championship games in the metro area on Saturday.

Class 5A’s top-ranked Matadors captured the title at the Mel Otero Invitational. Down the road, the Storm won their own Phil Griego Invite. And the Trojans and Jaguars were the champs of the Joe Armijo Classic at Albuquerque Academy.

MEL OTERO TOURNAMENT (RRHS girls)The run, Sandia coach Lee Kettig said, will come. On Saturday at Rio Rancho High School, in the Otero final, it was a wraparound run that began late in the third quarter and carried into the fourth quarter, a 14-2 spurt that ultimately was the separation that led to the Matadors’ 64-42 victory over the seventh-ranked Rams. The score does not indicate how competitive this game was for most of the way.

“What we want to do is impose our will; a 14-2 run is not that surprising,” Kettig said. “We’re gonna run at some point. We feel like it’s a matter of time.”

The young Rams (5-2) were down only six, at 40-34, with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Sandia scored seven of the final nine points of the quarter, including a late 3-pointer from Hope Giddings, and led 47-36 heading in to the fourth quarter.

Then the Matadors (7-0) scored the first seven of the fourth, including a 3 from Nadia Randall, her only field goal of the game, plus a trip with three shots which ended with Sydney Benally finally scoring for Sandia.

It was 54-36 for the Matadors, who were not threatened again.

“For us, we just needed to dial in on our standard,” said the BYU-bound Benally, who scored a game-high 26 points. “I think it was more just effort and thinking as a team. Shots weren’t falling for us (early), and we were forcing; we just had to let the game come to us.”

Rio Rancho played once again without head coach Lori Mabrey, who is dealing with a serious family issue.

But the Rams were all that Sandia could want, and the Matadors added another high-profile win after earlier victories over the likes of Hobbs and Mayfield.

“For me, this type of game is what we’re looking for,” Kettig said. “We want to have some adversity, and we want to be able to come out and have the fourth quarter be ours. We want to play as many of these type of games as possible.”

— James Yodice, Journal reporter

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Dec. 12, 2024

Round 1

— Sandia 66, Organ Mtn. 30

— Clovis 52, Robertson 41

— Rio Rancho 71, Highland 31

— Kirtland 59, Las Cruces 55

Dec. 13, 2024

Winner Bracket

— Sandia 76, Clovis 35

— Rio Rancho 69, Kirtland 61

Consolation Bracket

— Organ Mtn. 66, Robertson 53

— Las Cruces 66, Highland 36

Dec. 14, 2024

7th place game: Robertson 46, Highland 45

5th place game: Las Cruces 62, Organ Mtn. 35

3rd place game: Kirtland 67, Clovis 55

Championship: Sandia 62, Rio Rancho 44

PHIL GRIEGO TOURNAMENT (CHS boys)RIO RANCHO — At Cleveland, the Storm’s huge second quarter, in which they outscored Roswell 26-12, was the difference in a 78-64 victory.

Tournament MVP, junior guard Remy Albrecht, pretty much the only prominent mainstay returning for Cleveland this season, pumped in a game-high 32 points to lead No. 5-ranked Cleveland (5-0) over the ninth-ranked Coyotes (3-1).

“It was a big game for us,” Storm coach Zack Cole said. “We had a very slow start … but we settled down, started doing what we do, just took care of the ball, pressured them on defense and got into our transition game and was able to gap the score.”

Albrecht and Brycen Bowie each had seven points, and both nailed a 3-pointer, during that pivotal second quarter for Cleveland.

“We got stops, we got out in transition,” Albrecht said. “We were struggling, but our coach just told us to keep going, keep going. We just had to keep our foot on the pedal.”

The Storm led by as many as 24 points in the second half. The athletic Coyotes cut the deficit to 10 in the fourth quarter but just ran out of time.

“For our group of guys who don’t have much experience, the more bigger games we play in the better for us,” said Cole.

Bowie, a sophomore guard, added 14 points for the Storm.

— James Yodice, Journal reporter

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Dec. 12, 2024

Round 1

— Cleveland 80, Miyamura 34

— SFIS 43, Los Lunas 30

— Santa Fe 77, Highland 64

— Roswell 63, Valley 56

Dec. 13, 2024

Winner Bracket

— Cleveland 62, SFIS 46

— Roswell 67, Santa Fe 59

Consolation Bracket

— Los Lunas 62, Miyamura 50

— Valley 68, Highland 59

Dec. 14, 2024

7th place game: Highland 62, Miyamura 50

5th place game: Valley 55, Los Lunas 41

3rd place game: Santa Fe 69, SFIS 49

Championship: Cleveland 78, Roswell 63

JOE ARMIJO TOURNAMENT (CHS girls)It was a heartbreaking opening round for the Storm. The CHS girls fell to the rival La Cueva Bears in overtime 54-53.

“There were some tears, but I’m so proud of how they rebounded,” said head coach Stacy Pokorski. “I told them there’s a lot of basketball left.”

Indeed, the Storm ripped off two consecutive victories to grab the fifth-place finish, the best possible after a Round 1 loss.

In the second round, Storm forward Malia Mose exploded for 14 points, five rebounds and five steals, leading her team to a huge victory over Hope.

Mose followed that up with a nine-point, six-rebound performance against Artesia in the final round. Junior Danae Elzy led the team with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.

— Taylor Hood, Observer reporter

TOURNAMENT RESULTS{/span}

Dec. 12, 2024

Round 1

— La Cueva 54, Cleveland 53 (OT)

— Mayfield 47, Hope 32

— Centennial 59, Artesia 39

— Abq. Academy 67, Atrisco 15

Dec. 13, 2024

Winner Bracket

— Mayfield 44, La Cueva 36

— Abq. Academy 47, Centennial 43

Consolation Bracket

— Cleveland 45, Hope 34

— Artesia 60, Atrisco 40

Dec. 14, 2024

7th place game: Hope 40, Atrisco 23

5th place game: Cleveland 45, Artesia 36

3rd place game: La Cueva 52, Centennial 41

Championship: Abq. Academy 56, Mayfield 46