Gallup boys fall short to Academy

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

GALLUP – Looking to bounce back from a tough road loss to Taos on Friday, the Gallup boys basketball team came up short on Saturday night to the Albuquerque Academy Chargers.

Behind the steady guard play of Zac Borrego and some key offensive boards late in the contest, the visiting Chargers (6-4) escaped with a hard-fought 49-45 win.

“That’s been our issue all season,” said Gallup coach Ryan Becenti, whose team dropped to 6-5 overall with the four-point loss. “When we need rebounds, we don’t come up with those tough rebounds that could switch the momentum.

“It’s stuff that we push in practice, and it’s stuff that we try to work on,” he added. “But to win games against ranked teams like that, and bigger teams like that we need to get those rebounds.”

And although the Bengals were considerably outsized with four Academy players listed above 6-foot-5, the Gallup coach said the difference came down to Borrego’s play down the stretch.

“He’s one of their guys that we had circled,” Becenti said. “When you have a point guard like that who can control and be another coach out there on the on the court that’s a huge advantage.

“We put them (the Chargers) in spots to turn the ball over but at the end of the day, he (Borrego) did a really good job of taking care of the ball. He made sure everybody was where they needed to be.”

Borrego led all scorers with 17 points, which included six points in the fourth quarter as Academy kept Gallup at bay. After trailing by as much as nine points in the second half, the Bengals tied the game at 35-all with a basket by senior Jayson Bruner.

The Chargers, however, used a 9-3 run to gain some separation with Borrego nailing a 3 while junior forward Marco Fossuo added a pair of putbacks for a 44-38 cushion with 2:16 left.

“Rebounding was a big deal for us,” Academy coach Alvin Broussard said, while praising Borrego’s clutch plays.

“For whatever reason, we had a hard time finishing, but Zac made some great plays down the stretch,” Broussard said. “He was pretty solid because Gallup is fast, and they’re speed affected us.”

Brossard also noted Gallup’s sixth man, as the crowd gave the home team an extra boost.

“The environment is amazing,” he said. “I love playing out here. I love bringing my teams, but it got to us a little bit. I saw us get rattled, maybe more than I’ve seen us in the past but I was happy with the way we responded. We just found a way to grind it out.”

After a 10-10 stalemate in the opening quarter, Gallup fell into a funk by scoring only five points in the next eight minutes. Senior guard Joshua Keeto nailed a trey for a 13-10 Gallup lead. The Chargers, however, scored the next 11 points with Borrego nailing 6-of-6 free throws.

The Bengals got a much-needed basket from Bruner with two seconds left to get within 21-15 at the break.

“I think we just got really stagnant,” Becenti said of his team’s second quarter woes. “We’ve battled that, too. You know, we want our kids attacking the basket, but we got stagnant. Sometimes when we get our shots blocked, we get a little intimidated.”

The Becenti-coached team got down by as much as nine points (24-15) with 6:19 left in the third, but they nailed some bigtime 3s to get back into the game. To close out the third, Gallup made 3-of-6 treys, which included a pair by sophomore Kashis Whitman.

“We haven’t been shooting the ball very good,” Becenti said. “We’ve missed some open attempts, and we were telling that to the boys, even last night (Friday), to shoot the ball.

“When you shoot the ball, it gives yourself a chance whether you make it or miss it,” he added. “If we do miss, it gives us an opportunity to rebound and get easy buckets. Hopefully, going forward, we can build some more confidence and feel better about shooting the basketball.”

The Bengals were led by Bruner as he finished with 12 points despite being a little banged up when he took a tumble with an Academy player near midcourt in the middle of the third.

Gallup freshman Ethan Mason added seven while Whitman chipped in six.

For Academy, 6-10 senior post Hunter Aime finished with 12 points and nine rebounds while Fossuo added 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Bengals is hosting Bernalillo on Tuesday as they are looking to end a three-game losing streak.

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