Buffs earn top seed in 2A boys tourney

Staff report

According to the brackets, the Melrose boys are the only Curry County team favored to bring home a state basketball championship. But Texico girls and boys squads are penciled at No. 2 in Class 3A, while the Grady girls were seeded No. 2 as well in Class 1A.

The Buffaloes received the top boys seed in Class 2A, while both Texico squads were seeded No. 2 in Class 3A. Round-of-16 games will be played in all classes for girls on Friday and boys on Saturday.

Playoff seedings were announced on Sunday by the New Mexico Activities Association. Host sites for next week’s quarterfinals include Bernalillo, Cleveland and Rio Rancho high schools, Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho and The Pit in Albuquerque.

The Pit will host all 12 championship games March 12-13, starting at 11:30 a.m. on Friday with Class 1A girls and finishing with the 8 p.m. Saturday Class 6A boys finale.

Clovis’ girls, state champions in 2013 and semifinalists the last two years, made the 16-team field despite falling in the first round of the District 4-6A tournament. The Lady Wildcats, seeded 13th, will go to 4-6A champion and No. 4 seed Carlsbad.

Hobbs is the ninth seed and visits Valley, while Alamogordo is the last team into the bracket and travels to top-seeded Cibola (23-1).

The Clovis boys, with Class 6A’s worst record at 3-22, did not make the field. Carlsbad is the fourth seed and hosts Volcano Vista, while Hobbs visits Valley in the 8-9 game.

Alamo also did not make the 6A boys field. The top two seeds are Onate and Cleveland.

Texico coach Scott Karger assumed his team would be seeded second in the Class 3A boys tournament behind 25-1 Lordsburg, and he was correct. The Wolverines (18-5) host Tohatchi on Saturday.

Quarterfinals are March 9 in Rio Rancho, either at Rio Rancho High or Cleveland High, with semifinals also in Rio Rancho, on March 10 at the Santa Ana Star Center. The title game will be at 10 a.m. on March 12 at The Pit.

For the Texico girls (20-4), losing the District 4-3A tournament final to Eunice didn’t hurt in seeding. The Lady Wolverines go in as the No. 2 seed, and host No. 15 Clayton on Friday.

Eunice is the third seed, and takes on Santa Rosa at home. Texico would get the winner of the 7-10 game between Tucumcari and Pecos.

As expected, the top seed went to Tularosa (27-0).

The March 8 quarterfinals and March 10 semifinals are at the Star Center, with the championship game at 1:30 p.m. on March 11 at The Pit.

The good news for area Class 2A boys teams is that three squads from Curry, De Baca and Roosevelt counties are in the Class 2A tournament. The bad news is that only one can reach the semifinals.

Top-seeded Melrose hosts Cloudcroft on Saturday for the right to face either No. 8 Fort Sumner or No. 9 Dora in the March 9 quarterfinals at the Star Center. The semifinals are on March 10, also at Santa Ana, and the title game is at 6 p.m. on March 12 at The Pit.

In Class 2A girls action, defending champion Melrose is the seventh seed and hosts Mesa Vista on Friday, while Dora entertains Fort Sumner in the 6-11 game. Quarterfinals are March 8 at Bernalillo.

Grady’s boys (19-6) earned a No. 6 seed in Class 1A and will entertain No. 11 Cimarron on Saturday.

Meantime, the Grady girls, who fell 45-38 at Elida in the District 4-1A final, host No. 15 Animas on Friday. First-round winners advance to March 8 quarterfinals at Bernalillo.

Elida, looking for its second-straight Class 1A title and sixth-straight small-school title overall, hosts Coronado in the 1-16 matchup.