The Springer Red Devils basketball team earned a berth into the NM State Class A Boys Basketball Championship with a 47-39 victory over Grady/House Bronchos.
Played at Bernalillo High School Gym on Thursday night, Springer led for most of the contest, but could never really pull away to a comfortable lead as Grady showed no ill-effects from a double overtime marathon victory the day before against Hondo Valley.
Grady chose to try and shut down Springer’s Estevan Romero as the Bronchos clamped down on the prolific scorer holding him to four points. However, Springer showed it is a team game, as Isaiah Garcia jumped, ran and floated around the court to put in 13. Damien Blaubach added three three-pointers and had a total of 11, while Zac Caldwell pulled down 11 boards and added eight points. Jacob Quintana put in seven while Bryan Romero rounded out the scoring with four.
The win was the 202nd for coach Jimmy Apodaca, and puts him back in the finals at the Pit in Albuquerque on Saturday, March 12 at 8 am. It will mark the return to the big dance for the first time for Apodaca since 2009 when Ft. Sumner took a one-point heartbreaker victory.
The Springer girls were also in the semi-finals on Thursday, paired up against five time defending champion Elida. Winners over Quemado the night before, Springer could not overcome a slow first quarter start and lost 55-38. Senior Kara Burton went out fighting hard as she poured in 20 points on a 9 for 13 shooting night and added 6 rebounds.
