Elida outlasts Buffs 71-67

ELIDA — First, it looked like Elida was going to smoke Melrose in Wednesday’s Class 1A boys state quarterfinal game. Then it looked like the Buffaloes might take control.

But in a game of runs, it came down to the final minutes, as may have been expected, and the Tigers closed on a 10-2 surge to oust the Buffs 71-67.

The win earned second-seeded Elida (22-5) a semifinal date on Friday against No. 3 Mesilla Valley (22-1) at Bernalillo H.S. The championship game was slated for 6 p.m. on Saturday at The Pit in Albuquerque.

Junior guard Aiden Yates scored 25 points, leading four Tigers in double figures. Senior Rylan Creighton and sophomore reserve Seth Jimenez added 12 points each, combining for 15 in the final stanza, while junior Jose Jimenez finished with 10.

“I knew it was going to be a good game,” Creighton said. “We missed some shots, and we got down a little bit. But we (eventually) got our intensity back.”

Five players were in double digits for the seventh-seeded Buffs (19-9), led by sophomore guard Michael Cardonita with 17 points. Melrose, which lost to Magdalena in last spring’s 1A final, went on an 18-3 run to take a two-point lead late in the half before erasing a nine-point deficit with a 15-1 blitz for a 65-61 advantage with 2 1/2 minutes left.

Seth Jimenez scored twice from close range to tie it, and Creighton’s two free throws put Elida in front for good with 1:03 to go.

“We just had to get the ball in the right people’s hands,” Tigers coach Jared Fraze said of the finish.

In the end, the Buffs fought an uphill battle after falling behind 21-8 with less than two minutes left in the opening segment.

“I think it was just nerves,” Melrose coach Kevin Lackey said of his team’s slow start. “We just could never get (the lead) and maintain it.”

Elida had a 20-8 advantage in free throw attempts — something Lackey said was primarily the result of the Tigers’ efforts on the offensive boards.

“We did a lot of good things,” he said. “I think if we played 10 times, it’d be close every time.”

Seniors Logan DeVaney, Brandon Garcia and Brody McAlister all tallied 12 points for Melrose. Garcia had four 3-point baskets.

Now Elida can turn its attention to the Sonblazers, who suffered their only loss of the season to the Tigers 57-42 in a mid-December tournament at Elida.

“We’ll just take it one game at a time,” Creighton said. “Every season we’ve gone a little bit farther. If we play our style of basketball, I think we’ll do OK.”

In other boys quarterfinals on Wednesday:

Clovis Christian 60, Roy/Mosquero 49 — At Roy, the fifth-seeded Eagles overcame an 8-0 deficit to pull even at the quarter and never looked back, building an 18-point cushion with about four minutes left.

Next up for CCS (21-8) was a Friday night semifinal tilt against top seed Magdalena (29-1). The Steers beat the Eagles 82-37 in a neutral-court game at Corona on Jan. 22.

“Hopefully, we can give them a better game than last time,” CCS coach Trent McKay said. “We lost Jason Martinez early with an injury (in that game) and Carter Teune was in foul trouble. I hope we can stay in the game.”

Teune tallied 22 points against the Blue (23-6), while fellow junior Noah Gershon added 15. Martinez and junior O.B. Blanco added 10 apiece.

For Roy/Mosquero, which beat CCS 46-28 at home in the Nov. 30 season opener for both teams, senior Lane Clavel finished with 29 points.

Magdalena 57, Dora 39 — At Magdalena, the Steers scored the final seven points in the opening segment to lead 17-11 and steadily pulled away, although the ninth-seeded Coyotes (17-10) gave them problems from time to time.

“I felt like we played them good,” Dora coach Kris King said. “We played good defense, but we couldn’t score and we were hurt by turnovers.”

Mag, whose only loss was a 67-56 verdict at Class 2A No. 1 Tularosa (26-2) three days before it played CCS, got 24 points from senior Joren Mirabal, 14 from freshman Joseph Zamora and 12 from junior D’Shaun Vinyard. The Steers came in averaging 77 1/2 points and allowing just under 30 per game, and it was their second-lowest scoring total of the season behind the Tularosa clash.

Junior Steven Masini led the Coyotes with 20 points.

In girls Class 1A action on Tuesday night:

Melrose 37, Gateway Christian 31 — The fourth-seeded Lady Buffs — seeking their eighth consecutive trip to a state final and fourth title (2015, 2016, 2020) in that span, almost didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals. They fell behind 10-1 at the start and still trailed 30-22 midway through the final stanza before erupting for a 15-1 run over the final four minutes.

Junior Sorrell Allen scored nine of her game-high 16 points in the fourth period for Melrose, while junior Isabelle Sena and sophomore Graci Odom added 10 apiece.

It was Melrose’s second win over the fifth-seeded Lady Warriors (18-3) in the past two weeks. Gateway was led by 12 points from senior Hannah Lilley and 11 from junior M.J. Stephens.