Season ends for BHS, VHS boys in round of 16

The boys basketball season ended Saturday for both Belen and Valencia in the first round of the 4A State Tournament, with the Eagles falling 71-60 at home to Portales, and the Jaguars 52-36 at Del Norte.

Belen Eagles

No. 8 BHS (18-12) got off to a solid start against No. 9 Portales, forcing the Rams (15-13) into turnovers during a frantic first quarter.

A 9-2 lead evaporated behind the hot shooting of Portales guard Aiden Maestas as the Rams led 29-27 at the half.

Torin Karnes, Rodney Masterman and Pablo Aguilar combined for five three pointers for Belen to keep the game close.

BHS didn’t have answers in the second half for Rams 6-7 power forward Pierce Culpepper, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the final 16 minutes.

“We’ve been undersized all year,” said Donald Marquez, BHS coach, about the Eagles’ lack of height. “These kids battle. I felt early on we held (Culpepper), but eventually he broke loose on us.”

Belen trailed 56-39 heading into the fourth quarter, but cut the lead to seven points on a steal and bucket by Aguilar, who led the Eagles with 19 points. BHS would get no closer.

“We could have handled the ball a little better, made some shots,” said Marquez. “It could have been a different game.”

Despite not reaching the quarterfinals and a trip to the Pit, Marquez said, “I’m just so proud of my seniors, the amount of work they put in this year, (proud of) the whole team.”

The Eagles will need to replace five seniors; Elijah Schaffino, Daniel Aguilar, Dalton Herschberger, Nicholas Montano and Sammy Sanchez.

Valencia Jaguars

At Del Norte, the second quarter proved to be costly for No. 13 Valencia, outscored 18-5 by the fourth-seeded Knights. The Jaguars struggled offensively at times against the tall and active DNHS defense.

Despite that, VHS (15-13) was within striking distance at 32-24 in the third quarter after a pair of threes from Jared Porter and a three-point play by center Jai Russ. Del Norte (19-10) soon regrouped and led by double-digits the rest of the way, winning by 16 points. Junior Carin Bustillos led Valencia with 12 points.

“We had a lot of accomplishments this year and a lot to be proud of,” said VHS coach Jesse Hathoot. “Our kids really persevered through a lot of adversity.”

Hathoot praised his seniors, Jared Porter, Russ and Eric Rodriguez.

“They helped elevate our program this season,” the coach said. “They set a great example of what it takes to commit and work at a high level.”

Porter led the Jaguars in scoring (16.6) this season and recently joined the 1,000th point club. Russ was among the team’s top scorers (9.3) and rebounders (4.4).