Pirates Over Silver—Pit Bound

If there is a perennial goal of any high school basketball team in the state of New Mexico it is to make it to “The Pit”—-the New Mexico prep basketball holy land. “The Pit” at the University of New Mexico is where the Nusenda Credit Union state boys’ and girls’ basketball tournaments are held every March.

After last Saturday's 59-54 victory over the Silver Colts, the Grants High school Pirates boys’ basketball team is headed to “The Pit” for the first time in 8 years.

“It was such a huge victory—- fulfilling our ultimate goal of getting to the pit,” said GHS head basketball coach Landon Chavez of that game.

“The countless hours of hard work and dedication paid off and we are onto the next round”.

The GHS Pirates had a good start against the Colts, last Saturday, with a 17-8 lead in the first quarter, however, the Colts, district 1-4A champs with an 18-8, 6-0 record bounced back in the second quarter led by Julian Richards, a senior who had six points and his teammates chipped in 12 points to make the half time score 28-23 Colts. The only Pirates mustered six points in that second quarter off two field goals by senior Noah Victorino and a field goal by junior Boudy Melonas.

“We made adjustments (halftime) to stop allowing second chance points and made adjustments to the press break—that resulted in half the amount of turnovers in the second half,” said Chavez “We focused on stopping number one (Richards)---looking to take charges and finishing our free throws.”

Despite focusing on their game plan, the Pirates were still down five points behind the Colts at the end of the third quarter, 4338.

Richards had eight points in that quarter– the same number of points as he had in the second quarter.

The Pirates landed two treys from Senior Noah Vicotorino, a trey from senior Matty Trujillo as well as a field goal from Tristin Fernandez and John “JJ” Horacek chipped in 2 free throws in that 3rd quarter to keep the Pirates in the game.

Trailing by five the Pirates kept up the pressure on Richards and kept working on the game plan.

The Pirates chipped away at the Colts lead. “We got back to who we were on both sides and of the ball and it paid off,” said Chavez The Pirates scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to the Colts 11 points to secure their 59-54 victory and at “The Pit”.

In the crucial moments of the fourth quarter the Pirates lost one of their top players, Boudy Melonas, who fouled out. Melonas scored 10 points.

On the other side of the aisle the Colts lost their top scorer when Richards also fouled out in the 4th quarter as well.

The Pirates saw their chance and poured all hands-on deck.

In the fourth quarter, Boudy Melonas, who took a crucial charge late in the game went five of six for on the free throw line and Tristin Fernandez had seven of his 11 points in that crucial 4th quarter to surge the Pirates ahead to victory. Dominick Gonzales of the bench had seven huge rebounds keeping the time of possession in the Pirates favor.

Chavez had nothing but praise for his team’s effort. “We had multiple players come up huge for us,” said Chavez “It was an overall team effort”.

Senior Noah Victorino was crucial to that victory as he amassed 19 points, eight points in the first half and 11 points in the second half.

Rounding out the Pirate scorers Horacek had five points, Ethan Willie as well as Dante Victorino had two points apiece and Matty Trujillo with three points.

In the quarter finals the Pirate face district rival, the Highland Hornets, for a 3rd time. They have lost twice to Highland during district play, 82-58 and most recently 7661.

“Highland has beaten us twice–it’s always hard to beat them three times–we will focus on limiting Jesus Licona and Isai Herrera at they both had big games last time around,” said Chavez. “All the pressure is on Highland–we are playing our best basketball and peaking at the right time.”

Chavez still energized by his win. Concluded by stating, “I tell my players —once you get to the pit anything can happen.”

“I'm pretty stoked—I’ve always dreamed of playing there in front of our fans from my hometown,” said Tristin Fernandez of making the quarterfinals. “This is an opportunity not too many people in the world get so I’m going to make the most of it.”

Fellow teammate Dominick Gonzales said of the upcoming game, “I think it’s a great experience for the team”.

The Pirates will play at 6:30 on Wednesday, March 13 at – of course – “The Pit” CIBOLA COUNTY SPORTS ROUNDUP

The Pirate boys’ baseball team is currently 4-2 after recently defeating Gallup in a double header 11-0 and 27-0 and also defeating Santa Fe in a double header 13-3, 111. The GHS softball team is currently 2-4 after a recent loss to Shiprock, 13-3.