Texico tramples Tularosa in boys 2A

RIO RANCHO — Jim Coleman tried to do it all for his fourth-seeded Tularosa Wildcats in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A state boys basketball tournament.

In doing so, he fell right into No. 5 seed Texico's master plan. That declarative was clear: Let Coleman get his points, but don't allow the Wildcats' complementary pieces beat you.

And it worked to perfection.

Coleman pumped in 40 points, but the Wolverines clamped down on senior forward Chance Brill and shooter Brett Saenz to advance to the semifinals with a 72-65 win Wednesday at the Santa Ana Star Center.

"We talked about we wanted the other four standing and watching the 'Coleman Show,'" Texico head coach Ty Thatcher said. "They're pretty tough to defend when he's penetrating and then getting his here and there, dropping it off and building his teammates' confidence. It gives him that security blanket that, 'I can always get to the rim and drop it off, kick it to the corner.'"

Coleman had to work diligently to get his points, always harassed by a converging clan of Texico defenders. The 6-foot-4-inch scorer needed 24 shots to get his share and was only 2-of-10 from 3-point land. Tularosa finished an arctic 2-of-16 from deep.

Texico built a 23-6 first-quarter lead thanks to heady play from Miguel Reyna. Reyna wowed the green-clad fans behind the Wolverines' bench with an array of bedazzling moves. His most crowd-pleasing one came during that definitive first-quarter stretch.

Reyna, taking the ball coast-to-coast, duped a Wildcats defender with a fake behind-the-back pass, whipped the ball back around to his right side and laid it up softy off the glass to boost Texico's lead to 16-4 with 3:36 left in the opening frame.

Rallin Harris sent the crowd into a trance with a 3-pointer moments later, and Texico was well on its way. Tularosa never got closer than seven, and that didn't happen till after the buzzer sounded.

Coleman had an opportunity late in the third quarter to trim Texico's lead to seven, but dribbled the ball off his foot on a fastbreak for one of his seven turnovers.

Coleman shortchanged the Wolverines' staggering defense afterward, but it was clear it bothered him. Texico limited the Wildcats to 24-of-65 (37 percent) from the field compared to 24-of-56 for the winners.

Reyna had the more efficient performance, tallying 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Reyna made sure not to get caught up in a one-on-one battle with Coleman, and as a result, his team is advancing.

"I think we just outplayed him as a team," Reyna said. "That helped us win."