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Rivalry at the Port! Long time rival, the Bernalillo Spartans, played a neck and neck game with the Pirates this past Saturday, in a mid-morning match up. The Pirates were unable to overcome the Spartans and lost the contest 61-54 and are currently 1-4, 0-1. Franklin Romero. - CC
GRANTS, N.M. - The Pirates just finished playing three games this week at home and despite some good runs and comebacks they were unable to pull out a win. The big game was the 11 a.m. Saturday matchup between the Pirates and longtime rival, the Bernalillo Spartans, who came in at 3-1. It did not disappoint for a rival matchup.
“Knowing that Bernalillo was a perennial powerhouse and top three in class 4A we knew it would be a hard-fought battle going in,” said GHS boys’ basketball head coach Landon Chavez. “I believe we matched their physicality and gave them a run for their money.”
The Pirates managed to stay in reach of the third ranked Spartans throughout the game as they only trailed by three points at the end of the first quarter, 10-7.
At the half, the score was 31-23 with senior guard Adam Garcia leading the Pirates with 11 points.
The third quarter the Pirates matched them point by point for the most part as they scored 13 points to the Spartans 14 points and trailed 45-36. In the final quarter the Pirates led by Garcia again, with 11 points, scored 18 points to the Spartans 16, however, the Pirates were unable to outscore the Spartans and lost the contest 61-54 and dropped to 1-4,0-1.
Garcia, who finished the game with 30 points said,” It felt good just being able to finish and contribute to the team and I thought it was a really good game.”
Chavez summed up the game by stating, “After committing 25 turnovers and seven missed free throws, we still only lost by seven points, an eye-opening game of how good we can actually be.”
Earlier in the week the Pirates played two other home games. First, on Tuesday, April 6, they played Kirtland Central, a non-district game, and lost that game by a score of 67-50. On Thursday, April 8, they squared off with district rival, the St. Pius X Sartans, (2-1, 2-0) and lost a close game by six points, 50-44.
The Pirates will hit the road for their next game on April 13, where they will face off with district rival, the Valencia Jaguars (1-4,1-1), then a home game on Thursday, April 15 against district opponent Highland High School (1-2,1-0) and on Saturday, April 17 they travel to Belen (1- 4,0-2) for another district game.
“This week we have three tough upcoming opponents. It will be anything but easy, but we have learned, grown, and continued to improve throughout this short, unprecedented season,” said Chavez of the upcoming games.
The lady Pirates dropped their last three games last week. On Tuesday, April 6, they traveled to Kirtland Central High School and lost that non-district game 65-39 and on Thursday, April 8 they lost a district game to the St. Pius X Sartans by a score of 56-23. The lady Pirates traveled to Bernalillo High School on Saturday, April 10 and lost that game, 59-36. They have three games this week and are currently 0-5, 0-1 to start the next round of games.