St. Mike’s game-ending 22-0 run ends Navajo Prep’s season

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Mar 20, 2025 | Sports |

RIO RANCHO, N.M. – The team depth of Santa Fe St. Michael’s had a huge influence in the final outcome between the Horsemen and Navajo Prep.

The two teams played in the New Mexico 3A state quarterfinals on Wednesday, Mar. 12 at the Rio Rancho Events Center with the top-seeded Horsemen winning, 60-43.

The eighth-seeded Eagles led for much of the contest until Navajo Prep lost the service of senior guard Xavier Nez with 4:30 remaining in regulation.

When Nez fouled out, the Eagles were ahead 43-40, but the Horsemen closed out the game on a mind-boggling 22-0 run.

“Well, it says a lot about that young man right there,” Teel said of Nez. “Yeah, I mean we kind of fall apart at the end there. The guys, we’re just young, what could I say? We got five with experience and we got a lot of young ones in there.

“But we battled and we tried our best. We never quit trying, we never quit fighting,” he added. “Win or lose, it doesn’t determine the character of these young men, and they’re high character young men.”

With one less ball handler, the Horsemen slapped on a full court press and they didn’t give an inch in those final four-plus minutes.

“Bottom line is we wanted to play the way we want to play, which is extremely hard,” St. Michael’s coach Dakota Montoya said. “I think that style and that tempo plays to our benefit because we’re so deep, especially late in the fourth quarter.

“The boys understand that message,” he added. “You know, we’ve been battled-tested with a lot of 4A and 5A teams. The boys ultimately just wanted that game and the effort showed and I told them that if we play hard and execute down the stretch good things happen.”

With Nez out, St. Michael’s forced Navajo Prep into committing seven turnovers. And when they did get the ball past midcourt, the Eagles went 0-for-5 from the field, including four missed 3s.

“Just the constant pressure,” Teel said when asked about trying to overcome St. Michael’s defense. “They’re deep, and I think they have seniors and it showed. They hindered our ways, and it was a game of runs. They never went away and they kept going.

“Once we lost the momentum, we couldn’t get it back,” he added.

Navajo Prep junior guard Dylan Lansing, who is usually accustomed to handling all kinds of defensive pressure, acknowledged the challenges of trying to get the ball from one end of the court.

“Obviously, everyone is going to put in their best effort,” Lansing said. “It’s the end of the season and everyone is going to come after you. It’s just understanding that you have to put trust in your teammates. Their strategy was to defend, so you have to put trust in other people and have them hold their end for us to be successful.

“I think we can deal with the loss; we just have to get back into the gym as a team,” he added. “We just have to work together and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Early on the Eagles were able to hit their shots as they entered the fourth quarter by making 13-of-31 baskets. Of those shots, Nez was 7-of-11 as he finished the game with a team-best 20 points while Lansing added 15.

“I think it’s just the passion that we have within each other to where we trust each other to make those big shots,” Nez said. “Before we came out the key speech that we had was to have confidence and to play with heart. I think that is what kept our momentum throughout the game.”

And while it’s hard to say what the final outcome may have been had Nez stay in the lineup, the Eagles exhibited what potential they have as they return everyone but Nez next season.

“These guys are so young,” Teel said. “I know what I’m good at, I’m good at developing players and this summer their fixing to get developed. And that is what I’m good at.

“I’m looking forward to it and I’m going to miss this guy right here,” Teel said of Nez. “High class, high character young man. Did everything I asked of him. He was a leader and every time I said something he echoed it.”