Melrose basketball teams stampede toward tournaments

MELROSE — You’ll hear it from coaches all the time when it comes to tournament play: ‘We’ll learn from this. We can only get better.’

To that point, Melrose’s boys and girls basketball teams should be in top form come district and state playoff time. They each participated in the EPAC Tournament last weekend. They’ll each participate in tournaments this weekend — the boys at Dexter, the girls at Tularosa. Tournaments, tournaments and more tournaments should be just what the Buffaloes need as their 1A opponents loom, with state-tournament play looming not far after that.

“I think the biggest thing for us (about the Dexter tournament) is we’re going to be playing quality teams,” Melrose boys head coach Kevin Lackey said. “We’re a 1A team, and there are going to be quite a few 2A and 3A schools. ... The better teams you can play, the better off you are.”

At Dexter, there will even be New Mexico Military Academy, of the 4A variety. All in all, the teams there could offer a stern challenge for Melrose and Lake Arthur, the only two 1A schools involved.

The Lady Buffaloes are headed to Tularosa with a potential education on their minds, too.

“We’re going to get to play some teams we don’t get to see, and see some different styles,” said Melrose girls head coach Caleb King, whose team was 7-4 prior to Tuesday night’s home game against San Jon.

King’s team went 0-2 at EPAC, losing to Fort Sumner 56-36 on Day 1 last Wednesday before narrowly falling to Dora, 42-39, in a Saturday consolation game.

“We’re a younger team,” King said. “We have some younger players on the roster. They got to play in front of the local people. They didn’t handle the pressure well.”

He’s hoping they grow from that, show that growth at Tularosa. And the early-week practices were geared toward just such a turnaround. Players may have a tendency to be logey at practice after enduring the schedule and pace that tournaments force them to play. Not so for the Lady Buffaloes, according to King.

“We wanted to make it a more competitive environment (at practice),” King said, “and the kids came in with a good attitude.”

The boys’ first test at Dexter will be Mesilla Valley, a 2A powerhouse that plays prep schools as far flung as Arizona and will carry a 9-1 record into Thursday night’s game against the Buffaloes.

“Mesilla Valley is a very good team,” Lackey said. “They’ve got a lot of length. They’ve got a 6’5” guy and a 6’4” guard we’ve got to deal with. Their guards are very lanky. They will man (cover) us. Hopefully we can take advantage of that.”

The Melrose boys — 8-2 prior to Tuesday night’s home game against San Jon — were EPAC semifinalists, going strong with a decisive Wednesday-afternoon win over Dora until running smack into top-seeded and undefeated Texico on Friday. The result was a 52-34 Buffalo loss.

“Texico’s one of the best teams in the state,” Lackey said of the eventual EPAC champs. “They’re very good, they’re very hard to guard. I would’ve liked to have seen them in the championship; we got them in the semis. I thought we battled. Playing a team like Texico only makes you better.”

Once again, it comes back to that, the usefulness of these tournaments. Playing a team like such-and-such makes you better, which is the goal of teams in January as they look to make a strong push in February and a deep run in March. There’s little or no room for error in those months, so best to get ready for it now.

“With some teams, you make a mistake and they make you pay for it,” King said. “That’s one of those things you can get out of this tournament.”