Rams claim City of Champions Classic crown

RIO RANCHO – Rio Rancho High School boys’ basketball coach Wally Salata, keen on pointing out that the season is a marathon and not a sprint, now knows his team is at least headed in the right direction to finish this marathon.

Salata was dismayed with the way his team lost its opener to visiting Valley, 78-50, followed by a 68-47 loss at Clovis. A three-game winning streak, with senior go-to guy Jayden Johnson back on the floor after his season debut at Clovis, cured those blues.

“Better this week than last week,” Salata told the Observer. “What a difference a week makes. When Jayden Johnson is back out there, we’re a different team.

“Everything starts with him,” Salata said. “We have other players playing well. Kevin Archuleta, Jerry Archuleta – they played well. All three of those guys were named all-tournament.”

His Rams were coming off a win at the three-day City of Champions Classic in Artesia, which they also won in 2014 in their first appearance there, and again in 2017. The Rams (3-2) have some time off before a home game with Rio Grande, one of Salata’s previous coaching stops, on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.

Here’s the road to the big City of Champions trophy:

Rams 55, Carlsbad 49: Salata likes to track winning quarters, and the Rams had two of them in first-round action on Dec. 7. Their 18-13 first quarter “victory” and an 11-5 advantage in the second quarter gave Rio Rancho a 29-18 bulge at intermission.

The teams played evenly, 13-13, in each of the final two periods.

Jerry Archuleta paced the Rams with 15 points.

Rams 72, Alamogordo 49: This time, in a semifinal on Dec. 8, the Rams won all four quarters.

Johnson and Kevin Archuleta shared scoring honors with 16 apiece; Jerry Archuleta added 15 points.

Rams 57, Artesia 49 (OT): This time, the Rams lost the first two quarters and won the final two, then won the only period that really mattered: overtime.

The victorious Rams scored the only eight points tallied in the decisive period.

Johnson led the way with 17 points, Kevin Archuleta came up with 15 and Aidan Wood added 10.

“We played crappy, and found a way to win,” Salata said. “We were down seven, 45-38, and (Artesia) shot 1 for 10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and overtime.”

Defense has made the difference lately, he said.

Keeping opponents to 50 or fewer points is one of the team’s goals, he said.

“We did that. And another goal was to force teams to 22 turnovers or more, and I think overall, for this past weekend … Artesia had 23, Alamogordo had 25 and 26 for Carlsbad. That’s almost 25 turnovers a game – I’m very happy about that.

“When your offense isn’t clicking, you’ve got to rely on defense,” he said.

With Johnson back, he expects more foes to concentrate on him, freeing the two Archuletas – unrelated – to get into double figures.

He’s also hopeful of varsity newcomers Noah Montoya, “the 6-6 kid; he’s a roller-coaster right now,” and sophomore Kayden Decker, brother of former Rams girls’ standout Kamirah.

“He’s a young kid; he’s a sophomore,” Salata said. “He did some good things in the fourth (quarter) and the overtime, even though hos shooting stats weren’t good, he hit a clutch basket in overtime to give us that lead.

“It’s a team effort,” he concluded. “To beat three southern teams is really good for us.”

Ram dunks: Following the game on the 21st with the Ravens, the Rams have three more games in ’23, opening the annual Jalene Berger Allstate Holiday Hoops Classic on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. vs. Sandia Prep, with games following on the 28th and 29th.

… Salata said senior Noah Nelson has left the team. The former quarterback played only 13 minutes in Artesia and hadn’t played varsity hoops in previous seasons.