Strong field set for Hub City Tournament

BELEN — Just nine days removed from a gut wrenching loss to Valley, the Belen boys basketball team will have a second crack at the Vikings Thursday in the first round of the Hub City Tournament.

The gym should be rocking for the rematch, which tips off at 7 p.m., after the Eagles felt they let the first meeting slip away in a 53-51 loss.

The Eagles are coming off a runner-up finish in a Sandia Prep tournament, with victories over Las Vegas Robertson (69-44) and Manzano (55-54) and a loss to Eldorado (72-55) in the title game.

Eight teams will take the court in the three-day tournament at the Belen High School Gymnasium.

“I feel it’s a real strong field,” said BHS coach Donald Marquez, pointing to 5A schools Las Cruces, Centennial, Organ Mountain and Atrisco Heritage, along with something of an unknown in El Paso Cathedral. “It will be a good test to see where we are at against some bigger schools,” he said.

Valley, Rio Grande and Roswell Goddard complete the field.

Albuquerque Public Schools and Las Cruces Schools annually provide two teams each to the event.

“We make a promise to them, if they are in the same district,” Marquez explained, “we will try to keep them away from each other as far as possible,” in the bracket.

Marquez believes the quality of the Hub City Tournament will allow the Eagles to “improve on a lot of things, especially for a young team.”

The tournament tips off at 2:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11. It continues Friday with the semifinals and consolation bracket, with the championship game set for 3 p.m. Saturday.

Hub City Tournament first round games

2:30 p.m.: Las Cruces vs. Rio Grande

4:00 p.m.: Atrisco Heritage vs. Roswell Goddard

5:30 p.m.: Organ Mountain vs. El Paso Cathedral

7:00 p.m.: Belen vs. Valley

Los Lunas Tigers

In other boys tournament action last week, Los Lunas finished 1-2 in the Artesia tournament, with a victory over Kirtland Central (49-31) and losses to Alamogordo (62-50) and Carlsbad (49-30).

Valencia Jaguars

Valencia posted a 2-1 record in the Capital City girls tournament that included a loss to Cleveland (41-36) and victories over Highland (47-29) and Los Alamos (51-27) to earn the consolation championship.