MAGDALENA—A day after a game filled with turnovers, No. 1 Magdalena kept a tight grip on the basketball and delivered a knockout. The Steers downed No. 5 Cliff 57-15 to move to 28-0 on the year and recorded their 10th consecutive district championship on Feb. 24.

The Steers topped Quemado 64-31 on Thursday but didn’t look as sharp as coach Jory Mirabal expects his teams to be, and a pregame goal of 10 turnovers was blown before halftime against the 14-14 Eagles.

A day later, against a 20-6 Cliff squad, the Steers committed just four turnovers, and it didn’t matter who Mirabal subbed in – Magdalena wasn’t coughing up the ball.

“We regained some focus. It wasn’t a bad thing to go through last night,” Mirabal said. “I was happy with them to go out tonight and get back on track.”

Magdalena didn’t practice Friday, but instead, the Steers went through some skulls sessions, and while Quemada wasn’t a trap game, Mirabal most certainly served his team with a wakeup call that all aspects of their game need to be taken care of 100 percent of the time.

The district title game was the third time this season the Steers have faced off against the Cowboys, and each time Magdalena’s defense has gotten tighter as it recorded wins of 69-44, 64-29, and Friday’s 57-15 stunner.

The Steers could have put more points on the board, but Mirabal wanted to get his entire squad on the court, and that limited his starters Josh Baca, Jeff Stuteville, D’ Shaun Vinyard, Kael Stephens and Joseph Zamora’s playing time.

Even in limited minutes, Vinyard scored a game-high 23 points. The Steers continued working on their perimeter game as Kaleb Castanon, Zamora, and Matthew Parker dialed it in from behind the arc.

The Steers owned a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and led 29-11 at the half. Magdalena’s defense put up another goose egg in the third quarter, and it was a coast-to-the-final 57-15 score.

No. 4 All-Time Consecutive Wins

Friday’s win was Magdalena’s 43rd consecutive win and moved the Steers into the No. 4 spot on the all-time wins list in New Mexico. Ironically, the Cowboys and Steers were tied for mark.

Mirabal is focused on winning a third-straight Class A state championship, but he also can’t ignore the behind-the-scenes story that is a double-double for the Steers. It’s now the time to win or be done, and the same goes for pursuing an all-time win record.

Plainly put, the record only matters once it does, and Magdalena’s rise to a basketball powerhouse has been built with a strong foundation.

“The people out here, I mean, they’re fans, and they love the hype and the excitement, and I don’t want to take that away from them because they’re great fans. But if we get tied into that, we’re cutting ourselves short,” Mirabal said. “The consecutive wins and 10-straight district titles are a testament to our former teams. If I go back to 2008 or 09, and those guys aren’t buying into what we do, this doesn’t happen. Everything we’re doing now is a testament to them, and they were just as important to what we’re doing now as our current team.”

Scoring

Ayden Herschbach 2, Kael Stephens 8, D’Shaun Vinyard 23, Kaleb Castanon 3, Jeff Stuteville 6, Krae Stephens 2, Joseph Zamora 10, Matthew Parker 3.

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor