All that's left now is to wait for the state tournament brackets

Mar. 2—The number is this: 150.

That is how many prep basketball games remain in the 2023-24 season, all of them of the postseason variety.

The state tournament fields will be announced late Sunday afternoon. There will be 15 games in each of the 10 brackets, leading up to the flurry of state finals on March 15 and 16.

Saturday marked the final day for anyone to do any final résumé building.

And Saturday was a reminder, not that one was particularly necessary, of the volatility of March basketball as district tournament finals played out across the state.

The state's best team, the Volcano Vista boys, were pushed to the limit Saturday afternoon by No. 4 Atrisco Heritage in the District 1-5A championship game.

In fact, the Hawks committed a late turnover with under 5 seconds to go at the Atrisco end of the floor, and the Jaguars' Latavious Morris, a player no opponent wants to see with the ball in his hands in a key moment, just missed on a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime on the West Side.

Volcano Vista won its 16th straight game, 69-66 before a packed house.

"All credit to Atrisco. They're playing great right now and they were a handful," Hawks coach Greg Brown said.

Morris had 29 points for Atrisco Heritage (21-8). Brown's hands were tied a bit when his two stars, Kenyon Aguino and David Lunn, both picked up their fourth fouls. Both spent multiple minutes on the bench in the fourth quarter.

But Aguino had perhaps the biggest moment for Volcano Vista. Just after Morris buried a corner 3 to cut the deficit to two points with 1:45 to go, Aguino at the other end recorded a three-point play, putting back his own initial miss, giving the Hawks a five-point lead.

Aguino (who had 17 rebounds), Lunn and Hudson Brown all scored 17 points for Volcano Vista. Brown delivered three crucial 3-pointers in a tight second half.

And Hudson Brown said Saturday was an eye-opener as the Hawks (26-1) chase a Class 5A three-peat.

"I feel like we still have plenty to improve on," he said. "Our defense especially."

His father was proud.

"He's had an up and down year, but he's ready for these moments," Greg said. "He's one of our leaders and he played like it (today)."

At West Mesa on Saturday night, No. 5-ranked La Cueva was in control throughout as the Bears beat the seventh-ranked Mustangs 77-60 in the 2-5A tournament final. This came five days after West Mesa beat La Cueva in the 2-5A playoff game.

"We had a great shootaround this morning, best one we've had all year," La Cueva coach Eric Orell said. "And I think it trickled into the start we had."

La Cueva (20-9) had a 10-point lead by the end of the first quarter. Consecutive 3s from Dylan Chavez, Cam Dyer and Eric Jacobsen stretched that advantage to 26-10 less than three minutes into the second quarter.

The Mustangs (18-10) were not closer than 12 the rest of the way.

La Cueva is assured of having a first-round home game. Is West Mesa? That will be something to watch on Sunday.

"I feel good where this team is at," Dyer said. He scored 19 points Saturday. Chavez led the Bears with 23 points. "I think they just wanted that game (on Monday) more than us. Tonight, we clearly wanted it more."

Sandia's girls (24-3), ranked No. 2 in Class 5A behind Hobbs, won the 2-5A championship Saturday night, 61-49 over No. 3-ranked Farmington (24-4). The Matadors and Scorpions, plus Hobbs and Volcano Vista, give the 5A playoff field top-heavy strength and any one of them might prevail on March 16 at the Pit.

The Albuquerque High girls (24-5) won the 5-5A tournament Saturday afternoon, 41-37 in overtime over visiting Los Lunas. The Tigers (19-10) missed five free throws in the final 90 seconds of regulation, and two more in the OT. The game was tied at 37 headed to overtime; the Bulldogs got two free throws from Zaiyah Hawley, and one each from Maliyah Lee and Kaelynn Ashley for the winning margin in the extra session.

"I value winning," first-year AHS coach Teri Morrison said with a smile. As for Sunday, and where the Bulldogs will be seeded, she sounded simultaneously unconcerned and confident. "You better get ready, the 'Dogs are comin'."

Highland and Albuquerque Academy's boys won tournament titles on Saturday night. The second-ranked Hornets won the fourth quarter and beat No. 6 St. Pius 73-66 in the 5-4A final. Highland could now be in line for the overall No. 1 seed for state with the current No. 1 in the coaches' poll, Valley (21-6), falling at home 45-38 to defending state champion Albuquerque Academy in the 6-4A championship game.

For the third-ranked Chargers, Joe Jack had a double-double, 24 points and 11 rebounds, a night after a 29/17 outing in the 6-4A semifinal victory against Hope Christian. For Highland, Isai Herrera led the way with 23 points against St. Pius. Jesus Licon added 21 points for the Hornets (22-6).

Valley was 1 and Highland 2 in the final coaches' poll of the regular season. The Hornets had a very slight mathematical edge on the Vikings in the MaxPreps poll. Both are part of the seeding criteria for the New Mexico Activities Association. The coaches were to submit their final rankings to the NMAA before the seeding process.

Academy's girls, 49-33 over Hope Christian, won the 6-4A title on Saturday afternoon as Addie Spratley scored 24 points.

Bosque School's boys and Legacy Academy's boys also won district tournament championship games Saturday.

The Bobcats (20-7) in District 5-3A defeated Sandia Prep 58-47 (24 points and 14 rebounds for Cooper Hautau in the win for Bosque), and the Silverbacks (23-6) defeated Evangel Christian Academy/Oak Grove Classical Academy 54-46 in the District 7-1A tournament final.