Roundball Roundup: Cleveland's tiebreaker, Mabrey milestone, seniors honored

March is just around the corner, folks. In the basketball world, you know what that means.

As the regular season comes to a close, here is a “fast break” edition of the Roundball Roundup, heading into playoff time.

Stormin’ to the top

Thanks to Cleveland’s double-overtime victory over Rio Rancho on Thursday, the Storm will now face Volcano Vista in a first-place tiebreaker for 1-5A on Monday.

Monday’s meeting will be hosted at Cibola High School, with tip-off set for 6 p.m.

Cleveland is 2-1 on the season against the Hawks, including a victory on the Feb. 17 against Volcano to help set up the tiebreaking opportunity. 

The Hawks have dominated the district over the last couple of years. Can the Storm break through and end the black and silver reign?

400 wins for Mabrey

Rio Rancho girls basketball’s victory over Cibola on Feb. 13 wasn’t just the team's 20th victory of the season, but also head coach Lori Mabrey’s 400th career victory.

Now in her 20th year of coaching, Mabrey is the 17th coach to reach 400 wins in a career. Before her four years at Rio, Mabrey coached the Cibola Cougars for 17 seasons, making the victory over the Cougs a poetic one.

Mabrey and Co. will look for more achievements to hang on the mantle, with the Rams likely to hold a high seed in the girls' state tournament.

Tough sledding for the Lady Spartans

While Bernalillo still holds an impressive 21-4 record, their 74-61 loss to Albuquerque Academy on Wednesday put them at 0-4 on the season against the Chargers and the Hope Christian Huskies combined.

The Lady Spartans entered district play 18-0, before a competitive 66-60 loss to the Huskies at home on Jan. 21 ended the perfect run. Since then, Bernalillo is 3-3 in their last six.

Their resume may hold more blemishes than before, but the Spartans are still looking to make noise in the postseason. If they run into any of their district foes, they will have to be ready to buck some trends.

Senior night

To close, teams and schools around the state honored their seniors in the final regular-season games of their high school careers.

Here is the local hardwood’s Class of 2026:

Rio Rancho boys basketball: Chris Lucero, Jordan McNeely, Davi Santistevan, Ezekiel Chavez, Kayden Decker, Cayden Richardson

Rio Rancho girls basketball: Angelina Perea, Jemmah Estrada, Lilly Martinez, Kaci McHugh, Serena McHugh

Cleveland boys basketball: Karson Weddle, Dezmon Sandoval, Evan Vigil, Remy Albrecht

Cleveland girls basketball: Erin Winters, Malia Mose, Danae Elzy, Mireya Ulibarri, Jaslene Big Crow

Bernalillo boys basketball: Kenneth Saiz, Anthony Willie, Jacob Duran, Kobe Sanchez

Bernalillo girls basketball: Estrella Garcia, Chessidy Calabaza, Kylee Dineyazzie