No. 2 Eagles keep Blue Griffins at bay in 3A boys quarterfinal

Mar. 13—RIO RANCHO — One half of hot 3-point shooting was enough for Navajo Prep to survive an upset bid by the Santa Fe Prep Blue Griffins Wednesday.

The second-seeded Eagles drained six 3-pointers to build a 35-23 halftime lead, then outlasted a couple of runs by No. 7 Santa Fe Prep to advance to the Class 3A semifinals with a 66-56 win in a quarterfinal matchup in the Rio Rancho Events Center.

Navajo Prep will take on the winner of tonight's No. 6 St. Michael's/No. 3 Santa Fe Indian School games in The Pit at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

The game started off strongly for the Eagles, as they connected on 10 of their first 13 shots to take a 21-8 lead after a quarter. Prep finally steadied itself and used its size advantage to stay within shouting distance.

The Blue Griffins scored the first nine points of the second half to pull within 35-32 on a three-point play by Mitch Grover with 4:25 left in the third quarter. It was as close as they got. Navajo Prep (24-4) responded with a 14-4 run to pull away to a 49-36 lead heading into the third quarter.

Santa Fe Prep ends its season with an 18-13 record