Going into the Class A boys quarterfinal game, 5 of the 7 losses in the Cimarron Rams season came at the hands of the Des Moines Demons. But, as they say, you’ve got to play the game,
The Rams were runners up to Des Moines during the regular season, and lost the District 5A Tournament Championship by 3 points. They were with given a 6 seed while the Demons #3 seed meant the two would play for the sixth time this season.
What decided Wednesday’s quarterfinal game was rebounding and translating that into second chance points. The Rams dominated the boards outrebounding the Demons 42 to 17 and turned that into 19 second chance points, which in turn saw the Rams pull away slowly in the fourth for the 63 – 50 win.
Des Moines led 13-12 at the end of the first and then Cimarron’s Uriah Martinez continued to find the range hitting 7 of 13 three pointers for his 21 total points to lead the Rams offense. Demitrius Jackson at 6’9″ pulled down 16 rebounds and the big man hit his only 3 point attempt, while totaling 14 points and showed stamina by being one of four Rams who played all 32 minutes on the floor for Coach Eloy Brazil. The other two members of the 32 minute club, besides Martinez, were Logan Sahd with 9 points and Isaiah Salazar with 7. Angelo Guster and Andrew Gonzales rotated in for each other and mirrored each other as both had 6 points and 3 rebounds apiece.
Des Moines finished the season at 25 – 5 under Head Coach Ben Doherty, who also had four of his starting five, all seniors, playing all 32 minutes including Caleb Sumpter who led all scorers with 25. Noah Johnson hit two three pointers early, but he and the whole team couldn’t hit the long-range shot consistently finishing just 4 of 17 for 23% from beyond the arc. Nash Trujillo contributed 7, Calder Green totaled 4 and David Cisneros had 2.
,Cimarron will play #2 Fort Sumner/House in the semis on Thursday, March 14 at Rio Rancho events center at 1:15 pm
