Season tips off early for Eagles, Tigers & Jaguars

Los Lunas, Belen and Valencia have several things in common this boys’ basketball season; each will try to replace a key player and each will enter the campaign as something of an underdog.

Belen Eagles

For the Belen Eagles (9-18) last season, everything started with Jordi Rojo, the honorable mention all-state guard.

“We’re going to miss Jordi’s point guard leadership,” said Donald Marquez, BHS coach. “We’re still trying to develop a point guard that can lead the team but when we do it’ll be fine because we move the ball really, really well right now.”

With Rojo graduated, Marquez is expecting more team balance.

“They are ready to come out and play together,” he said. “Everyone seems to be way better together than in the past.”

The Eagles won’t have much height, with Sammy Sanchez and Mason Montoya penciled in for heavy duty inside, with help from Rodney Masterman.

“We really need to box out as a group and get rebounds,” said Jasode Harris, senior guard.

With a roster full of similar-sized guards, including Josiah Navarro and Alan Moreno, playing at a fast pace will be important.

“We can be like a run-and-gun team,” said Damian Avila, senior guard. “No other team should be able to run with us. We should be able to run every team out of the gym.”

That style of play means the Eagles will need to play in-your-face defense.

“We want to play really hard, and we want defense to keep us in the game,” Marquez said. “I feel we’ll play a lot of close games. We just need to figure out how to win them.”

Navarro expects a noticeable improvement from last years.

“We are going to look way better than last year and the years before that,” he said.

As for weaknesses, Avila doesn’t see any.

“Everyone can shoot. Everyone can finish. We can all play defense,” Avila said. “As long as we can put it all into one, we’re going to be hard to stop.”

The first game for BHS is Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Valley. The Eagles won’t play at home until Dec. 12-14 at the Hub City Tournament.

Valencia Jaguars

A different approach is being stressed by Valencia coach Jesse Hathoot this season.

“I thought last year we hit a wall right before district,” Hathoot said.

With that in mind, fewer games and workouts were held during the off-season.

“Obviously, you want to win games early, but the goal is to be at our best in January, February and March,” the coach said.

Part of the Jaguars’ struggles during their 11-16 season was because of a knee injury to standout senior guard Damian Estrada.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Hathoot points to a young roster that gained experience last season.

Carin Bustillos, sophomore guard, “can be one of the better kids in class 4A,” Hathoot said.

Jared Porter, junior guard, has “the ability to go off on any given night.” VHS will also be counting on Jordi Giron, Isaiah Rodriguez and Carlos Tafoya, who will “play more elevated roles for us this year offensively.”

Without Estrada, “I think we can have a different guy lead us in scoring every night, which is exciting,” Hathoot said.

The Jaguars will have some size inside with Diego Baeza and Jarius Russ.

“We can throw the ball inside to them. They need to get touches.”

“We can really score the ball,” Giron believes. His concern is more about “toughness — sometimes when we come in (to practice,) we don’t have that drive.We have a really good defense, if we put our mind to it.”

The biggest concern for Hathoot? The stacked lineup in District 5-4A.

“You’ve got St. Pius and Highland, who were two final four teams, returning a lot,” Hathoot said. “Grants returns just about everybody. They were a quarterfinal team. I think Belen is going to shock a lot of people. It’s going to be a gauntlet every night.”

Valencia was one of the first teams to play this season in New Mexico. Saturday, the Jaguars (1-0) won 45-35 at Deming. VHS hosted Gallup Tuesday, after the News-Bulletin print deadline.

Los Lunas Tigers

First year LLHS coach Pablo Gabaldon will have an entire new starting lineup with the departure of four seniors and the transfer to Arizona of all-state guard Jalin Holland. Still, Gabaldon is feeling positive.

“It’s been going good. The kids are working hard,” said Gabaldon, a longtime assistant who was hired when Travis Julian resigned after 12 seasons.

“I have my own philosophy,” Gabaldon said. “There will be different things, but there will also be the same things,” acknowledging the success LLHS had under Julian, including a 20-10 record and a trip to the state tournament last season. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

The Tigers will be young and inexperienced, but Gabaldon is encouraged.

“These kids are accepting us. They’re going hard,” he said.

“I like him a lot,” Alex Lopez, junior guard, said about Gabaldon. “It’s all just trusting the process. I think we’re going to shock a lot of people this year.”

For size, Gabaldon will be counting on Josiah Griego, a 6-foot, 5-inch post player, along with Joaquin Trujillo, who is coming back from a broken clavicle.

On the perimeter, the Tigers will look for breakout years from a number of players, including Lopez, Damasio Carrasco, Fabian Hernandez and three freshmen, Isaac Trujillo, Ethan Tafoya and Zaki Apachito.

Lopez believes the Tigers need to be scrappy.

“We’re smaller, we’re younger, so we really need to get to the (free throw) line.”

When asked about his schedule, Gabaldon’s eyes got big. The Tigers open at home against Centennial on Nov. 30. The docket also includes the top four seeds in last season’s 5A state tournament; Atrisco Heritage Academy, Cleveland, Organ Mountain and Volcano Vista, the three-time defending state champion.

“It’s a difficult one but we’re up for the challenge,” said Gabaldon. “There are a lot of games in a short period of time, but we’ll be all right.”