For the Mountain Mail
SOCORRO -- At first glance, a 1-5 start for the Socorro Warriors Boys’ basketball team might seem a little lopsided. However two losses have come against fourth and fifth ranked 4A teams and two losses came at the hands of third and fourth ranked 3A teams.
Games against quality teams may be very beneficial for the young Warriors as they progress throughout the season. Socorro has been in a situation to win in each of those games but turnovers continue to the thorn in the Warriors’ side.
Socorro lost to the third-ranked 3A St. Michael’s Horsemen on Friday night in Santa Fe followed by a loss to the fourth-ranked 4A Los Alamos Hilltoppers on Monday night in the first round of the Ben Lujan Tournament.
After the conclusion on the Ben Lujan Tournament, Socorro will kick off 2010 with six straight road games. The first game of the road trip will be against Tularosa on January 2, 2010. The Warriors will not see their home court until January 16.
In Santa Fe on Friday night, Socorro looked to have cured their turnover blues during the first half of the matchup.
Socorro was leading by seven at one point in the second quarter before the Horsemen (4-2) went on a 9-2 run to close out the half tying the game at 31.
“We were tied at halftime, we only had four turnovers in the first half,” head coach Lawrence Baca said. “Then we had 12 turnovers in the third quarter and ended up with 23 for the game.”
Those 12 turnovers in the third quarter allowed the Horsemen to go on a quick 6-0 run to start the third quarter and finished the quarter with a 10-0 run to give St. Michael’s a comfortable 52-36 lead going into the final period.
The Horsemen maintained their lead throughout the fourth quarter and went on to win 69-46.
According to Baca the Horsemen shot a remarkable 79% from the floor.
Junior Jared Marquez led the Warrior offense with 14 points followed by Junior Zach Esquivel with 13.
Monday night’s game against the Hilltoppers proved once again that the Warriors are capable of competing with some of the top teams in the state. One major challenge for the Warriors was trying to find a way to contain 6”11” Alex Kirk.
“We played a zone the whole game and put a man in front and back of him (Kirk) and held him to 19 points,” said Baca.
The Warriors were able to hold Kirk to just 6 of his 19 points in the first half which kept the Warriors within reach down 27-20 at halftime.
According to JV coach Robert Mata, the Warriors found themselves down by three points with 30 seconds left in the game and the ball for an inbounds play. Socorro ran a play which resulted in a Warrior turnover and sealed the win for the Hilltoppers 48-43.
“This was one of the best games we played so far,” said Baca. “Overall we had a good game. ”
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