Atrisco Heritage Academy stomps Storm in 1-5A semifinal

RIO RANCHO – And now they wait.

The city’s basketball teams learn their fate after 5 p.m. Sunday, when the New Mexico Activities Association is expected to release the Class 5A brackets.

The Cleveland High School boys, with a record of 20-7, ranked second or third all season, should be now lower than a 4 and host a first-round game next week.

Rio Rancho (13-15), which has lost seven of its last eight games, will certainly be on the road in the first round, if the Rams are lucky enough to get a berth.

Here’s how the District 1-5A tournament went this week for CHS and RRHS.

Atrisco Heritage Academy 99, Cleveland 71: It was a good game for Storm fans – for the first half anyway – Feb. 29 in the Thunderdome.

That’s when the third-seeded AHA Jaguars visited in the District 1-5A semifinal game, with the winner advancing to the district tournament championship game Saturday at Volcano Vista.

The fast-paced affair between the Storm and Jaguars had six first-half lead changes and seven ties, the last at 38. That’s when the Jaguars closed out the first half on a 7-2 run and grabbed the lead to keep.

The Jaguars opened the second half on a 10-0 run and the Storm’s deficit grew to as much as 19 points in the third quarter, and they trailed 67-54 heading into the fourth quarter.

After the Jaguars scored the first points of the fourth period, the Storm never got closer than 14 points.

Atrisco Heritage Academy did better in every category, including rebounding and defensively, as the Storm had 13 turnovers to AHA’s 8. At the foul line, the Jaguars were 28 of 34; the Storm were 17 of 30. And from behind the arc, Jaguar shooters connected on 11 3-pointers to the Storm’s six, which included just one make of their final 14 attempts.

Daniel Steverson led all scorers with 26 points, but the Cleveland senior fouled out with 5:44 left in the fourth quarter, although the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Noah Padilla finished with 15, after 10 in the first quarter; Remy Albrecht added 10, with 8 in the first half.

Marquise Renfro, Like Steverson with more than 1,000 points in his prep career, led AHA with 24; Kadarius Sims had 23, Latavious Morris had 22 and Mathias Sanchez added 11.

Atrisco Heritage Academy 85, Rio Rancho 67: One night before the Jaguars clobbered the Storm, they did the same to the visiting Rams.

What had been a 14-5 Rams lead turned into a 20-18 deficit when the first quarter ended. A 24-13 advantage by AHA in the second period make it a 44-31 lead at halftime, and this game wasn’t in doubt in the second half.

“The difference in the game was Atrisco Heritage made nine treys, all in the first half, and was 20-31 from the free throw line whereas the Rams were only 7 of 9 for the game,” noted RRHS coach Wally Salata. “The Rams committed 19 turnovers while the Jaguars only had 11.”

Kayden Decker led the Rams with 19 points, but fouled out early in the fourth quarter.

As they had at Cleveland, the Jaguars enjoyed a huge advantage at the foul line.

“The Rams shot no free throws in the fourth quarter; the Jaguars were 12 of 17 from the stripe in the fourth quarter,’ Salata lamented.

Decker finished with 19 points, Josiah Marfil had 16 and Jerry Archuleta had 10.

Renfro led AHA with 25 points, Morris had 22, Sanchez had 13 and Sims added 11.

Rio Rancho 95, Cibola 72: Salata has been around long enough to know that if his Rams lost their home game with Cibola on Feb. 27, their season would probably be over.

It was the first game of the 1-5A tournament, the fifth-place team at the fourth-place team.

“You lose that game you don’t get in,” he said. “The first thing is we stopped our losing streak,” Salata said, after his team snapped its six-game skid. “We’ve got to come ready to play every night. … You lose, you go home.

“This type of game gives us confidence to go into tomorrow (and a game at Atrisco Heritage Academy).”

Both teams had but one district win heading into the tournament: The Rams won at Cibola; the Cougars won in the RAC.

The Rams left no doubt as to which team was better, using a 15-2 run in the first quarter to take the lead and never look back.

The Rams’ lead was as large as eight in the first period, 15 in the second quarter and 22 in the third period. The Cougars (6-21) got as close as 14 in the fourth quarter and failed to make the 16-team bracket; they haven’t been at state since the 2016-17 season, which ended with a quarterfinal loss at Cleveland.

All five Rams starters finished in double figures led by Marfil’s 19. Noah Montoya was deadly in the paint, finishing with 16; Archuleta had 13, and Jayden Johnson and Decker had 11 apiece. Unselfish throughout the game, Johnson probably had as many assists as points in the contest.

CHS freshman Elijah Martinez, 13 of 14 at the foul line, led his team with 18 points.

The Rams won all four quarters, which made Salata happy, and only trailed briefly, with ties at 7 and 9 in the first quarter.

RRHS sank four of its first five attempts from behind the arc, fed Montoya inside for easy layups and used exceptional defense to help force 10 CHS turnovers in the first half, 19 for the game.

The game also marked the varsity debut of Jordan McNeely who sank a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.