Taos Clinches Boys 2-4A Title With Big 4th Quarter Vs. LA

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on February 17, 2023
- 7:00 am

LAHS seniors are recognized before the game against Taos gets underway in Griffith Gymnasium. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com

Niko Garcia and Lionel Salazar face off at the start of the game played in Griffith Gym. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com

By MIKE COTE
Sports

For most of its contest with the Taos Tigers, the Los Alamos Hilltopper boys basketball team kept within striking distance.

Late in the contest, however, the Tigers made some big plays to pull away and grab a win and lock down this season’s District 2-4A title.

Taos’ big man, 6-foot-8 center Daemon Ely, made several huge plays in the fourth quarter as he led the Tigers to a 58-49 victory at Griffith Gymnasium. That game was broadcast on the Los Alamos Daily Post’s YouTube channel.

Los Alamos went into Tuesday’s ballgame controlling its own destiny for a district title, getting that chance after a huge win at Española Valley over the weekend. Los Alamos also had defeated Taos earlier this season in Taos, giving the Hilltoppers a chance to tie for the top spot in the district standings with just one game remaining.

While the Tigers (15-10 overall, 6-1 in 2-4A) led most of the way Tuesday, the game was within one or two possessions almost the entire time.

But some huge plays in the fourth quarter ultimately swung the momentum in the way of the Tigers. The first two were back-to-back thunderous dunks from Ely, one on a drive to the hoop from the top of the key and the other on an alley-oop on a fast break chance.

While those slam dunks fired up both the Taos bench and the Tigers’ visiting fans, even more crucial were three unforced Hilltopper turnovers coming immediately after the Hilltopper defense made big stops.

Los Alamos’ defense played very well for the most part Tuesday despite taking on the much taller Tigers.

The defense was able to limit the touches in space for Ely and 6-foot-5 forward Xavier Duke, and the Hilltopper rebounders more than held their own throughout.

Los Alamos rotated its bigs, Rick Valdez, Ben McBride and Enrique Tafoya, to take on Duke and Ely, and kept both in check until Ely’s huge fourth quarter, in which he dropped in 13 of his team-high 19 points.

On the offensive side, to counteract Taos’ height advantage, Los Alamos (10-15 overall, 4-3 in district) shot from the perimeter and had some success there. Josiah Fresquez and Niko Garcia combined for 4 each 3-pointers in the game, while Eddie Gartz coming off the bench hit a 3 early in the fourth quarter to shave the Taos lead down to just one at the time.

Fresquez, who also had some success driving to the basket in the second half, finished with 21 points to lead all scorers and Garcia added 13 points. Kyle Evenhus, who had a nice game rebounding Tuesday, finished with 6 points.

Josiah Fresquez plows his way to the basket through the Tiger defense, he scored 21 points in the game. Photo by JohnMcHale/ladailypost.com