Karen Boehler
CCSR writer/editor
Bobcat center Michael Garcia (4) swept the floor in the first quarter of play, scoring 14-points in less than four minutes of play. Here, he goes up against Bear center Jorge Quintana (33) as Ryan Gomez (11) awaits the outcome under the basket.
(CCSR photo by David R. Rocha)
HAGERMAN — The Hagerman boys were a little inconsistent in their regional matchup vs. Estancia Saturday, but after dropping their 23-point lead down to four, the Bobcats still managed to pull out a victory, topping the Bears 68-56.
“We started opening things up, we started building our lead, then we started playing lax and they came back and they got hot,” said Bobcat coach Anthony Mestas. “We kept the lead the entire game and I think we could have played a little better throughout the game, but it showed a lot from our team that we could stay in the lead and just continue with it. So I was proud on that aspect.”
With Estancia double-teaming Isaac Bejarano most of the game, it was up to others to step up, and that’s how the game started.
Bobcat Michael Garcia got the first points of the game on a free-throw with 6:20 on the clock, then he, Edward Montoya and senior O.J. Medrano combined for all of the first quarter’s 24 points, while holding the Bears to 11.
Medrano said his team did exactly what they’ve learned to do.
Isaac Bejarano (23) shoots an off balance shot making his way to the hoops and Destry Oberg (11) cannot do anything to stop the quickness of Bejarano in the fourth quarter.
(CCSR photo by David R. Rocha)
“When we face a good team they usually have a good coaching plan to double-team Isaac, and we need multiple players to step up and make a contribution to the team and tonight we did,” he said. “We had a few people come inside and put in some points, get him some rebounds and play some good defense to help Isaac out, get him out of trouble.”
Bejarano put his first points on the board 1:05 into the second quarter — after more buckets from Garcia and Montoya — then added three more to stretch the Hagerman lead to 33-11.
The Bobcat faithful had been cheering their favorites’ every move, while Bear fans seemed upset with the physical nature of the game and the officiating, charging the Las Cruces officials with “home-towning” them.
But they quieted down a bit as the second quarter progressed.
Estancia outscored the ’Cats 20-7 in the last four minutes of the quarter, and even though Hagerman was in the bonus by the end of the first quarter and double bonus midway through the second, they couldn’t take advantage because of poor free-throw shooting, something Mestas said his squad needs to fix.
“I hope we get better at making free throws,” he said. “We’ve just got to work on it Monday and maybe Tuesday morning. It’s just something, I guess, our legs aren’t in there. I don’t know. A lot of it is mental, too.”
By the time the buzzer sounded at the half, the Bears had cut the Bobcat lead to 41-31.
Estancia then outscored Hagerman 11-5 in a low-scoring third to cut the edge to four before a stanza-ending field goal by Bejarano made it 48-42 after three.
And in the fourth the ’Cats seemed finally to get their mojo back, outscoring Estancia 20-14 to earn a trip to state in their last year in Class AA.
“We wanted to get this win so we could get to Albuquerque and not just talk about it,” Mestas said. “So now we get to go over there. The thing I’m proud about the most is that the boys and girls made it.
(The Lady ’Cats earned their spot Friday.) With coach Crandall only having seven girls, they get to go up there now we can go up there and hopefully cheer them on as well.”
Estancia coach Robert McCaskill wasn’t as vocal about his displeasure with the officials as the fans, but he did say their actions made it more difficult for his team.
“It’s kinda tough when you’ve got like four guys in foul trouble,” he said. “We went down, we fought our way back but we just didn’t have enough gas to get through it.”
Told the fouls in the scorebook were fairly even, McCaskill said yes, but .…
“It was kind of even, I guess, but towards the end it got kind of lopsided, and went from 10 to three. There was 10 calls in a row. I’m not saying anything about the officiating, but we started off slow.”
Mestas said the calls were fair, but different from what his team was used to.
“They called a really tight game, especially in the second half,” he said. “Extremely tight. Which is fine. We’ve just got to adjust to that. We’re used to the southeastern type of referees where we get to play. We’ve got to adjust to it.”
Medrano and Andrew Barela are the only seniors on the junior-heavy squad, and Medrano said he just wanted to contribute in his final home game.
“It feels pretty good,” he said. “Able to come in here and come out with a victory. Hopefully we’ll treat it just like we did in football, we’ll get a championship here in basketball. My last year here, I’d like to go out on top. Ain’t nothing better than to win in your last game on your last time on your home court.
And as a senior I really needed to step it up tonight and I hope I did and hope I made a contribution to the team.”
He did, tallying 14 points on the night.
Garcia led with 22; Montoya had 15 and Bejarano 13. Mestas said he wasn’t surprised at the Bear defense against Bejarano.
“That’s how we knew they were going to come out,” he said. “They came and double-teamed Isaac. They were face-guarding him. They tried to get the ball not in his hands. And he did a good job. He didn’t score a lot for us, but he did other things in the game to help us win, which we needed.”
Bear Jorge Quintana led his squad with 21 points while Lawrence Chavez chipped in 17.
The Bobcats won’t know until mid-afternoon Sunday who they’ll be playing in the state quarterfinals, but whoever it is, Medrano said the team’s goals is simple.
“Right now, just take it one step at a time,” he said. “Look to that game on Wednesday and hopefully get to that big dance on Saturday. We’re just going to take it one game at a time.”
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