Los Lunas boys, girls sweep Belen Eagles

Los Lunas emerged victorious from both sides of the basketball rivalry with Belen, as the girls’ team won 57-18 at BHS on Friday before the boys claimed the second leg with a 55-28 win at LLHS on Saturday afternoon.

In the girls’ game, the Tigers immediately took control of the game and ran with it.

At halftime, LLHS led their hosts 40-8 and were comfortably in control. The Tigers had the benefit of some extra rest, not having played earlier in the week unlike the Eagles, who lost to Valencia last Tuesday.

The Tiger defense didn’t let up in the second half and only allowed Belen to score three points in the third quarter.

The offense slowed down for LLHS as well, however, only scoring 12 points in the quarter, well off of their torrid first-half pace. After three, the Tigers lead 52-11.

The fourth quarter saw the Eagles’ best performance of the night as they won the quarter 7-5, nearly equaling their first-half total.

The game went final with a score of 57-18 as LLHS improved its record to 15-4 and 1-0 in district play, while the Eagles dropped to 1-18 and 0-2 in district.

LLHS continued its success on Tuesday with a 58-46 win over St. Pius X at LLHS.

The Tigers led from start to finish in the game over the now 6-9 Sartans.

St. Pius’ next opponent will be Belen as the Eagles travel to Albuquerque on Friday evening.

BHS enjoyed a week off after the Los Lunas game, with no game scheduled on Tuesday.

Los Lunas will make the trip to Grants for a Saturday afternoon game with the Pirates, who came to Valencia and knocked off the Jaguars with a 49-39 result.

Bryce Santana of Los Lunas goes up for a shot over a pair of Belen defenders. The Tigers won 46-28.
Cameron Goeldner | News-Bulletin photo

On the boys’ side, the Tigers and Eagles were locked in a close contest heading into the second half, with a halftime score of 24-22 in favor of the host Tigers.

That was when the doors got blown off, as a lockdown defensive effort from LLHS completely changed the course of the game.

Belen was unable to score a single point in the third quarter of the contest, limited by the Tigers defense.

This gave the Tigers a chance to separate themselves and open the game up.

The third quarter was an 11-0 run for LLHS and took a 35-22 lead into the final frame.

It would be more than five minutes of game time before the Eagles would finally score their first points of the second half with 4:30 left in the game.

BHS’ defense did a good job of slowing the Tigers down in the early part of the fourth quarter, but because it took so long for the offense to come back into the picture it didn’t make much of an impact on the outcome of the game beyond keeping the score within reach had the offense come alive.

The Tigers only managed two points in the first part of the fourth quarter but ended up scoring nine more over the final 4:30. BHS would only manage six total points in the second half as the Tigers took home a 46-28 win.

The victory pushed the Tigers to a 10-8 record and got them off to a 1-0 start in district play.

LLHS added to it with a 31-28 win over St. Pius on Tuesday in Albuquerque. Next up, Los Lunas hosts Grants on Friday night at 7 p.m.

For the Eagles, Friday brings a visit from the Sartans with tip off in that game also scheduled for 7 p.m at BHS.