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Six losses seems a little unnatural given the Highland Hornets’ state rankings.
The defending Boys State Basketball Champion in Class 4A will be ranked #1 in 4A by the coaches in that division. MaxPreps.com ranks him #3. But Hyland coach Justin Woody is quick to quote a different number: 22.
That would be the number of consecutive wins the Hornets (9-6) have won against fellow 4A programs, he said.
Tuesday saw host Hyland pair up with Del Norte, the team that won the state final last season. And this one was like that, with the Hornets on top, beating the Knights 63-57.
All Highland coach Justin Woody and his team wanted was an 8th-place finish at last week’s Metro Tournament.
Woody said, “Offensively, we did a much better job than we did last week. We worked on open shots, open threes, layups, open shots and just let them wear out a little bit in transition and offense.”
The game was against two 4A premier players: Del Norte senior guard Shane Duma Sanchez and Highland guard Alexis Dominguez, who averaged 18.5 points.
Dominguez led Highlands with 19 points. Douma-Sanchez finished with a relatively quiet 31, ending the fourth quarter with just 5.
“He’s a very good player and we wanted to keep him below average,” Dominguez said. “That’s what we did and we came out victorious.”
Of 31 points, Woody said, “He definitely scored all the points.”
All six Highlands losses came from 5A teams of Sandia, La Cueva, Atlisco Heritage, Eldorado, Organ Mountain and Cleveland. For now, the Hornets believe Class 4A is going through them.
They kept Del Norte (9-6) at bay for most of the second half. He trailed 33-30 at halftime as the Knights took the lead 39-38 with his 18-foot jumper on Duma Sanchez, but Hyland scored his next 10 points in the game. and never dragged down again.
On that 10-0 run, Dominguez was in front 48-39 and had the first and last basket. And Del Norte never came closer than four points for the rest of the way.
Highlands were 8 for 18 from the first half arc. The second half cooled off, but he found enough quality looks and made enough free throws (10 of 14 for him in the last two quarters) to win.
Jesus Recon scored 4 of Hyland’s 10 3-pointers to add 16 points to the win.
Hyland 63, Del Norte 57
Del Norte (9-6): Dion Jim 7, Esteban Devargas 5, Aiden Hillman 2, François Satchbi 7, Dakaray Monike 3, Romain Heilmann 2, Shane Douma Sanchez 31. Total 21 7-10 57.
Hyland (9-6): Jesus Ricón 16, Fernando Hernández 2, Alexis Dominguez 19, Eliabu Lopez 2, Samuel Chavez 3, Isay Herrera 7, Sergio Acosta 7, Raul Stanford 7. Total 20 13-18 63.
Del Norte 14 16 12 15 — 57
Highland 13 18 18 12 — 63
3-point goals: DN 8 (Douma-Sanchez 5, Satchivi, Jim, Devargas); H 10 (Ricon 4, Dominguez 3, Chavez, Herrera, Acosta). Total fouls: DN 18; H 13. Technicals: DN bench.
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