5 Teams From the North Head South in Search of NM State Basketball Championship

Northern NM is ofttimes overlooked when it comes to respect and recognition, but that can’t be said for basketball as 3 boys and 2 girls teams from District 5A will head to Bernalillo for the quarterfinals for the 2025 NM State Basketball Championships.

 

The two girls teams include  the undefeated #1 seed in Class A the Roy/Mosquero Lady Blue and #9 seed Springer Lady Red Devils.  The way the seedings went, it will be those two teams facing off for the fourth time this season on Wednesday, March 12 at 3 pm for the right to advance to the semis.

Coach Blair Clavel has taken his team to the State Tournament every year since 2016 and has earned two State Titles in 2021, 2023, and lost last year in the semis as the #1 seed to eventual champ Ft Sumner/House.  Lady Blue has compiled a 27-0 record this year and cruised to a 63 – 24 win over Dora in the first round of 16.

Springer had a much more dramatic entrance into the tournament with a last second 66-64 win.  The Lady Red Devils went on the road for the first round to District 5A foe Des Moines and the game was close the entire way as Des Moines lead by 3 at the end of the first and then Springer forged ahead by one at the half.  The game was tied several times in the fourth period before Springer prevailed on an in-bounds layup with 1.3 seconds by Abigail Eppler.

In the boys Class A bracket, the top eight seeds all won first-round home games with #5 Roy/Mosquero beating Dora 68-48, #6 Cimarron beating Alamo Navajo 80 – 62, and #7 Maxwell handling Mountainair  79 – 58.

Maxwell won the Cowbell Championship in December, 2024 and then had health-bug bite them with several illnesses during February, but are now healthy going into the State Tournament under coach Jimmy Apodaca and have a respectable 23 – 6 record and will play #2 Melrose on Wed., March 12 at 1:15 pm

Maxwell’s last state championship was in 2017 when they beat Springer for the Blue Trophy.  Maxwell was coached then by Cimarron’s current head coach, Eloy Brazil.

Brazil won his 700th game as a coach in January against Springer and is one of a select few who can say they have won state titles at three different schools, Springer, Maxwell and in 1979 in his hometown of Cimarron. Last year, Brazil came close again, losing by 3 in the semis to eventual champ Ft Sumner/House. Cimarron’s quarterfinal matchup is against #3 Ft. Sumner/House at 9:45 am on 3/12/25.

The Roy/Mosqero boys are also coached by Blair Clavel and have shown steady improvement all year but were upset in the District Tournament by Cimarron and will play the last quarterfinal game at Bernalillo at 8:15 pm on 3/12/25.

KRTN will broadcast all the NE NM games on FM 93.9 with the help of our Sponsors: BacaValley Telephone; Springer Electric Coop; Whitten Construction/Septic; Phil Long Ford; the Baca Family; Hoy Trucking; NRA Whittington Center; State Farm Agent Jose Archuleta; CS Ranch; TO Ranch; Cross Canes Ranch; Rancho Escondido.