Warriors and Steers earn top seed going into State Tournament

The Warriors boy’s basketball team is coming off a 10-game streak of success that earned them the Class 3A top seed in Saturday’s State Tournament opening round game.
File photo | El Defensor Chieftain

Since riding out a three-game losing streak in early January, the Socorro boys basketball team has done nothing but win, carrying a 10-game streak of success that earned the Warriors the Class 3A top seed into Saturday’s State Tournament opening round game against Tucumcari.

The Rattlers (8-16) are sunning in a bit of a hot wave themselves, having won its last three, including two in the District 4 tournament, using a 64-55 win over Dexter to even qualify for a state berth as the 16th seed.

“We’re looking forward to playing them,” Socorro coach J.J. Griego said. “We respect anybody that comes to play. We’re looking forward to a tough game.”

The teams did not meet this season so unknowns will abound in the game that starts at 5 p.m.

What is known is that the Warriors run their offense through senior Duda Jackson, who leads the team in points (24.9 per game), rebounds (8.6) assists, (3.0) and steals (1.9). Defensively, post Jaydon Fowler protects the basket, averaging 0.9 blocks per game.

“Duda is one of the top scorers in 3A,” Griego said. “And Jada is one of our big guys. He does a great job rebounding and playing defense. We have a lot of kids who share the ball. We put our team in front of ourselves.”

Tucumcari counters with 6-2 forward Andrew Henderson-Clark, who is averaging 19.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.7 blocks, while Rattlers teammate Curtis Gonzales grabs 8.5 boards with 5.5 assists and 3.1 steals.

The winner will play Wednesday against the winner between eight and nine seeds Crownpoint and Santa Fe Prep. If Socorro advances, it would host that game.

To earn the top seed, Socorro had to knock off Hot Springs for a third time, this time in the District 3 championship game. A 62-47 win at home Saturday did the trick, with the Warriors building that advantage by halftime and holding it throughout the remainder of the game as Griego liberally used his entire roster.

Magdalena is the top seed for the second
straight season.
File photo | El Defensor Chieftain

“It’s always tough to play a good opponent and beat them more than multiple times and we had to beat Hot Springs for the third time. They had won the state championship two of the last three years so they were a very worthy opponent.  They’re a little bit down this year but they’re still a very well coached, tough team. But we jumped on them pretty early and kept it going.”

Like Socorro, Magdalena is the top seed, but for the Steers, it is just business as usual since this is the second straight season they have been the top seed and in 2020 they were No. 2. Over that span, Magdalena has compiled a 72-2 record, including 27-1 this season.

“It was just kind of a formality,” Magdalena coach Jory Mirabal said of receiving the top seed. “There is still a tournament to be played so don’t read too much into it.”

The Steers will play host to 16th seed Ramah (13-7) on Saturday at 5 p.m. The winner on Wednesday will meet the winner between No. 8 Legacy Academy and No. 9 Dora and should Magdalena win, it would host that game as well.

The Steers blitzed the Mustangs 85-12 in December.

“We’re familiar with them,” Mirabal said. “I used to coach there before coming here and we played them so we’re very familiar with that team.”

But when it comes to this time of year, that doesn’t necessarily make that much of a difference, he said

“I don’t know that you look at it as good or bad,” he said. “Nor is it necessary when we’re just trying to get better every night. The matchups isn’t as important as what we do every day in the gym in practice. That’s what we focus on and that’s what we’ll always focus on.”

The reality of it is, it will be up to the Steers’ opponents to find some way to corral this efficient, high-scoring bunch led by Mirabal’s son, Joren Mirabal, who scored 18 in the team’s first meeting.

Mirabal leads the team in scoring (26.1), assists (5.1) and steals (5.3) as one of the top players in the state regardless of classification. Dshaun Vinyard is adding 16.9 points and 5.9 rebounds and Kael Stephens 11.8 points.

Mirabal is more than simply another coach on the court, he’s literally an extension of his father.

“He’s been sitting on my bench since he was kindergarten,” coach Mirabal said. “His leadership comes in first and his understanding of the game. He understands what needs to happen on both ends and get us in the right spots to make things happen.”

Leadership from the floor and not the bench is what makes the Steers so tough, he said.

“It’s a big deal,” he said. “If your team is led by players instead of just the coach, it changes the whole dynamic of what gets done. You hope that it happens every year whether you’re related to the kid or not. If you’re going to win, you need to be player led. That’s important.”

Bowdy Evans scores 19 points a game to lead the Mustangs, while McKay Evans chips in eight rebounds, 4.5 assists, 5.5 steals and 2.0 blocks per game.

Magdalena prepared for the state tournament with a 75-37 win over Alamo Navajo, ending the Cougars season with a 12-15 mark. Mirabal scored 29 points in the game and Vinyard had 17.