For the Mountain Mail
MAGDALENA – The Magdalena Steers (10-4, 4-1) dealt the Menaul Panthers (14-5, 4-1) their first district loss, winning 58-34 on Jan. 30.
The previous night, Magdalena fell to Ramah 56-55 and on Feb. 2, the Steers defeated Mountainair 54-16 in a makeup game.
In Saturday’s game against Menaul, the Steers sprinted to an 18-3 lead and never looked back. Reg Peralto led the assault with 12 points, including two threes and Ryan Alguirre hit a three-pointer as Magdalena led 23-5 after the first quarter.
Magdalena coach Jory Mirabal, obviously, was happy about the fast start.
“I thought the kids did a good job of coming out and making adjustments based on the game last night,” Mirabal said. “We had a hard loss. The kids knew better with the silly mistakes we made and tonight was evident in making those adjustments. So I give all the credit to our boys.”
Magdalena continued its tight defensive play in the second quarter, holding Menaul to five points and Peralto continued his hot shooting with seven more points as the Steers led 35-10 at halftime.
The Steers kept up the defensive pressure, holding Menaul to four points in the third quarter. Mirabal substituted freely in the fourth quarter as the Steers rolled to the win.
After the game, Mirabal said, “Tonight we played a tougher team than we played last night. We just played solid basketball. In 24 hours, we looked like a different team. Mentally, we just came in more focused.”
Mirabal liked the play of Peralto.
“Reg is a leader. When he steps up and fills that role, we’re a tough team. The other kids feed off his leadership.
Menaul coach Kelvin Scarborough, a former point guard for the New Mexico Lobos, complimented Magdalena’s play.
“They just got on us in the first half. They took us out mentally, emotionally and they were more physical and quicker to the ball,” he said. “It was an uphill battle for the rest of the game.”
Scarborough also talked about his team.
“I told them everybody’s going to have a bad game. This was our bad game and put it behind us,” Scarborough said.
“We’ll play them again on our Senior Night so that might be good because it might be for the district championship. So right now, you have to take care of your home court and they took care of their home court tonight.”
Peralto led Magdalena with 24 points and Daniel Hand and Brice Milligan added nine points each. Alguirre and Abie Pino had six points each. Jayseph Griego had 14 points to lead Menaul.
Magdalena plays Temple Baptist at home on Thursday and at the Alamo on Feb. 9.
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