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CLOVIS — Santa Fe High’s boys basketball team is nicknamed the Demons. Fitting, because Tuesday night against Clovis, they played like a team possessed.
Santa Fe erased an early 8-0 deficit, then escaped a 17-point hole in the third quarter. And as the game’s final four-tenths of a second ticked away, the Demons seized a 60-58 win over the Wildcats on Victor Salcido’s right-elbow buzzer-beating three that stunned the Rock Staubus Gymnasium crowd.
“We challenged them at halftime,” Santa Fe head coach Zack Cole said of his players. “We didn’t feel like we were playing as hard as we could’ve in the first half. I got into them a little bit at halftime and they responded extremely well and I’m really proud of them. Playing on the road is hard, especially against a good team like Clovis. We worked hard to climb back in the game, and we were fortunate that Vic hit a big shot for us, because we really needed that.”
“We just had to stay positive as a team and not fall apart,” Salcido said. “Because it’s times like that when you have to really stick together.”
Clovis, playing its first District 2-6A game at home, was left dazed with an 0-3 district record, 8-10 overall. And, Wildcats head coach Scott Robinson had to find something to say to his team afterward.
“There’s not much you can say,” Robinson said. “Tell them you love ’em and there’s always tomorrow. We’ll just come back to work tomorrow. There’s not a lot that’s going to make them feel better right away. So I told them I loved them and that we’re a team, we’re going to hang together.”
Despite allowing leads to evaporate, Clovis was still right there well into the game’s final minute, seemingly on the brink of victory when senior Jakeem Wynn buried two foul shots to give the Wildcats a 58-55 advantage with 36.4 seconds left.
On Santa Fe’s next possession, Antonio Lovato drove for a bank shot that narrowed the difference to one. Wynn’s ensuing inbounds pass was picked off by Lovato, and with 11.1 seconds left, Santa Fe was in position to steal the win.
On the Demons’ next offensive play, guard Christian Kavanaugh drove for a shot and missed. Wynn leapt high and snatched the rebound from him, but the ref called a jump ball and the possession arrow pointed to Santa Fe.
Just 0.4 seconds remained. Time for one last Demon shot, and it had to be quick.
There was time to throw the ball toward the rim and try for a tip-in. There was time for a catch-and-shoot from the outside. Santa Fe was originally hoping for the former, but Clovis had the rim too well-defended.
“When (Cole) was drawing up the play, we were going to go for a lob,” Salcido said, “so I just tried to keep back at the perimeter.”
Which was a good place to be, because that well-guarded rim forced Santa Fe to send a pass Salcido’s way.
“I don’t know,” he said, thinking back on the bang-bang play, “I just shot it.”
“The (inbounds) pass got tipped,” Robinson said. “I saw it change direction in the air, and I thought that would be enough to not give them any chance at a good look. But the kid caught it and made a tough shot. And there was the game.”
Earlier, though, it seemed that Clovis would never be in the situation of trying to defend a last-gasp shot attempt. The Wildcats broke loose to start the game, winning the tip, then scoring the first eight points with field goals from four different players in four different ways. Bryce Cabeldue posted up to score the first bucket, Wynn hit a short pull-up jumper for the second, Ro Morgan drove for a layup fed by Cabeldue’s back-door pass, and Brandon Romero slashed to the rim in traffic.
That big advantage, however, was gone before the first quarter ended. Santa Fe battled back and took an 11-10 lead on a three by Salcido, foreshadowing the game’s heartbreaking conclusion for Clovis.
A three by Kavanaugh made it 14-10, but the Wildcats closed the first quarter on a 5-0 run that included a runner by Wynn and a three-point play completed at the line by Romero, allowing them to carry a 15-14 edge into the second.
Clovis stayed in front for the rest of the half, leading 34-23 at the break, and by opening the third quarter on a 7-1 run, constructed a 41-24 advantage. But, Isaiah Andermann sank a three for Santa Fe, and the comeback was on.
Perhaps even more disappointing than the way Tuesday’s game ended for Clovis was losing that 17-point lead. The Wildcats, though, won’t dwell on it. Sandia awaits.
“We’ve got a game coming up Saturday,” Robinson said. “We’ve got to get ready for it.”