Home
News
Sports
Video
Obituaries
Classifieds
Just TV
ALBUQUERQUE — The St. Michael’s Horsemen clinched one more shot at a state title, and the Portales Rams never quite found their shot.
Jordan Romero scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half, and the St. Michael’s Horsemen dominated an out-of-sync Portales squad 53-36 in Friday’s Class 3A semifinal at The Pit.
Elijah Garcia added 10 points for the Horsemen (22-7), who face top-seeded Hope Christian at 12:30 p.m. in Saturday’s championship.
What started as a cold-shooting day for both teams slowly turned the Horsemen’s lead as Romero lived at the line in the first quarter. While the Ram shooting woes continued in the second, Romero scored 10 points, including a 3-pointer during a 13-0 run that pushed the Horsemen’s lead to 20.
“We thought we could keep Jordan in front,” Portales coach Mark Gallegos said, “but he did a really good job of getting things going.”
Romero, who finished the first half on an NBA-range 3-pointer as time expired, posted his second-straight 20-point game in the tournament as he hasn’t faced the box-and-one defense District 2-3A teams normally treat him to.
“I’m just trying to go out there and do what I can do to get the ‘W,’” said the 5-foot-10 senior guard. “I tell myself every game I don’t want this to be my last game as a Horsemen. Tomorrow will be my last, but that’s the way you want to end it.”
Portales, meanwhile, trailed by as many as 28 and didn’t reach the 20-point mark until the final six minutes, well after both squads started emptying their benches.
The Rams (21-9) never recovered from their offensive woes, as 18 turnovers and 9-of-35 shooting kept them from setting up their pressing defense. Portales held strong on defense to start the second half, keeping St. Michael’s from attempting a shot for the first 4:48 of the third. But the Horsemen survived at the line and the lead never dipped below 18.
“I thought if we could get it to 10 by the end of the third quarter, we’d be OK,” said Gallegos, who was on Horsemen coach Ron Geyer’s staff at Alamogordo, “but we kind of ran out of gas.”
Geyer expected Portales to make a second-half push and was happy the Horsemen didn’t make quite enough mistakes to add fuel to the fire.
“We had our opportunities early in the second half,” Geyer said. “We missed on some plays, but the guys persevered and when we got the lead back in the 20s it was a relief to the coach.”
The Horsemen seek their 11th title in school history, and Geyer avoided as many questions as he could about the top-seeded Huskies.
“Hope’s a quality team,” Geyer said. “They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason. They could compete in any (classification) for the championship. They’ve got good size, they’ve got great depth and they’ve got great guard play.”
Marcus Slocum, who scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth, said the Rams just didn’t handle the atmosphere of Bob King Court like the tournament-tested Horsemen.
“They know what they’re supposed to do,” Slocum said. “We were amazed we were in The Pit. We just didn’t come out like we were supposed to.”
St. Michael's 53, Portales 36
Portales (21-9) — Marcus Slocum 3-8 8-17 16, Nick Bliss 2-12 2-2 6, Genaro Olivas 2-2 1-1 5, Billy Good 0-4 3-4 3, Shawn Carrasco 1-4 1-2 3, Will Archibeque 1-2 1-2 3, Zach Terry 0-1 0-0 0, Isidro Duran 0-2 0-0 0, Jesus Davalos 0-0 0-0 0, Walker Partin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-35 16-28 36.
St. Michael’s (22-7) — Jordan Romero 4-10 10-10 20, Elijah Garcia 3-3 4-4 10, Patrick Griswold 3-5 0-1 6, Michael Yardman-Frank 2-4 1-3 6, Justin Smith 1-1 2-2 4, Jeff Najjar 0-0 2-4 2, Jeremy Romero 1-3 0-0 2, Gabriel Ortiz 0-2 2-2 2, David Gonzalez 0-0 1-2 1, Antonio Garcia 0-2 0-0 0, Diego Ulibarri 0-0 0-0 0, Kenneth Kinderwater 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-30 22-28 53.
Portales 3 8 8 17 — 36
St. Michael’s 11 22 11 9 — 53
3-pointers — Portales 2-12 (Slocum 2-5, Good 0-1, Carrasco 0-1, Bliss 0-4), St. Michael’s 3-10 (Jo. Romero 2-4, Yardman-Frank 1-3, Griswold 0-1, Ortiz 0-1, Je. Romero 0-1). Rebounds — Portales 32 (Slocum 5), St. Michael’s 28 (Jo. Romero 7). Total fouls — Portales 20, St. Michael’s 20. Fouled out — Good.
