‘That’s why I love this team’: Gallup outshines Bernalillo, drives into final four

GALLUP

Like a swarm of bees, the Gallup boys’ basketball team erased a 14-point deficit to come away with a 70-67 win over the Bernalillo Spartans on Tuesday night.

The third-seeded Bengals (10-1) were outscored 8-2 at the start of the second half and they trailed 44-30 in the middle of the third quarter. Despite things heading in the wrong direction, Gallup dialed back by contesting shots and turning the Spartans six times to pull within 49-47 heading into the fourth.

Gallup coach Joshua Dunlap cited his team’s defensive intensity for expunging any doubts of a comeback.

“When we did get down 12, 14 I know everyone was clamoring me to call a timeout, but I don’t want to give (the Spartans) rest either,” Dunlap said. “Even through that run I thought we could play through it and luckily my guys made me look like I made the right decision.

“But that defensive intensity and playing without fouling the last 10 minutes of the game, that’s why I love this team,” he said. “When they are on like that I think we can compete with anybody.”

Like his coach, junior guard Joaquin Ortega said their defensive intensity made an impact in helping the Bengals reach the Final Four round in back-to-back seasons.

“I think the most important thing was talking on defense,” said Ortega, who finished 18 points. “It was mostly talking to our team and trying to get our mentality right.”

Ortega played a vital role in Gallup’s rally as he chipped in six during his team’s 17-5 late run in the third that got them within two.

Even with momentum on its side, it took Gallup some time to wrestle away the lead from Bernalillo as both teams traded buckets for most of the fourth stanza.

The Bengals, however, saw an opening as an inside bucket by junior post Kody Touchine earned the home team a 62-61 with 1:46 left in the contest.

In the next 63 seconds, Gallup padded that lead to 66-61 when junior guard Joaquin Ortega connected on 1-of-2 free throws.

But the Spartans didn’t go away as they used a 6-2 run to cut Gallup’s lead down to 68-67 with seven seconds left.

On the ensuing play, Touchine was immediately fouled and like money in the bank he sank both free throws to finish with a game-high 20 points, which included an effective 10-for-10 effort at the free throw line.

“Free throws is key to win games,” said Touchine, who noted that he doesn’t think of anything when he’s at the line.

With some time in between the boys’ and girls’ contest on Tuesday, Dunlap said he made every player make 30 free throws before they changed.

Whether or not that extra practice helped, the Gallup coach said his junior post came up with some big minutes coming off the bench.

“If that what it was – great – but I think he’s just getting older and more mature,” Dunlap said of his pupil. “I’m glad that he was rebounding and making free throws in big moments. He was really big for us.”

Dunlap said the all-around play of Ortega helped change the complexion of the game, even though his junior guard expended a lot of energy.

“That’s why he was district’s Player of the Year for us,” Dunlap said. “We were really trying to save him on offense and defense, especially in the fourth so that’s why you saw him going in and out.”

Dunlap said he noticed that Bernalillo seemed to go away from their game plan when Ortega was in the lineup.

“They were not worried about running their stuff, they were more worried about him,” Dunlap said. “That’s the best trait he has and for him to not pick up a fifth (foul), that was big.”

In a game muddled with fouls, Bernalillo lost three starters in the fourth, including junior guard Tristen Ludi-Herrera and senior forwards Damien Lopez and Ayden Madrid.

Lopez led Bernalillo with 14 while Herrera added 12 and Gabriel Prairie chipped in 11.

“Three of their guys picked up their fifth and we had two or three with four,” Dunlap said. “I was really proud that they adjusted to the calls.”

Asked about the pace of the game, Dunlap said they had to speed up the contest against a hefty Bernalillo squad.

“We thought that’s the only way we were going to play,” he said. “They’re a powerful team and we thought this was speed versus power tonight. At home, I’ll take our speed any day.”

Gallup will take on No. 2 seed Artesia on Thursday at 6 p.m. at a neutral site at Ruidoso High School with the winner advancing into Saturday’s championship game.

In the other half of the bracket, the Kirtland Central Broncos ended their season at 10-2 after falling to No. 4 Espanola Valley by a 62-40 count.

“We started off rocky,” KC coach Brian Dowdy said. “Our first five possessions were turnovers and they got up 10-0 but I called a couple of timeouts and we kind of got things back in control.”

After settling down, Dowdy said they got within 25-23 and at half they trailed 30-25.

“I felt like we did a pretty good job of coming back,” he said. “We were playing hard and we were playing scrappy. We got back to our game plan and we quit turning the ball over.”

In the second half, though, the Broncos missed some crucial layups and it didn’t help that senior forward Cameron Crawford fouled out, KC’s leading scorer.

“I think we were down six when he fouled out and it just snowballed from there,” he said.

Crawford was the only player in double figures for KC as he finished with 20 points.

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