Overshadowed Ben Lujan Tournament good for Portales, Santa Fe Indian School boys

Dec. 17—Lost amid the fervor of New Mexico State in the New Mexico Bowl and the annual St. Michael's-Santa Fe High battle over the weekend was one Northern event: the Ben Lujan Tournament.

Despite losing Thursday's action to snowy weather, the tournament — the only in the area last weekend — went off swimmingly. On the boys side, Portales fended off Pojoaque Valley 57-55 in the first of two games Friday morning and went on to dominate Dulce (84-44) and Monte del Sol (65-16) to win the round-robin event.

Santa Fe Indian School came out of the tournament with an impressive 2-1 record to improve to 5-2 overall, concluding the Ben Lujan with a 56-51 win over a Pojoaque Valley team that is proving to be a team on the rise in 4A. In the process, SFIS continued to solidify its status as a 3A contender.

On the girls side, Dulce made a huge statement when the 2A school beat Portales 57-41 to win the tournament title against a full field of eight teams. The host Elkettes took third by beating Capital, 33-26, despite an offense that is struggling to score points amid a 5-4 start.

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As the dust begins to settle in the prep basketball world as we hit the fourth week of the season, we are seeing teams establishing themselves in their respective classes' hierarchy.

Albuquerque Volcano Vista's 81-62 win over Rio Rancho Cleveland, coached by former Santa Fe High head coach Zack Cole, established the two-time defending champion Hawks as the team to beat in 5A. Santa Fe High, after surviving a 43-42 scare from St. Michael's, finds itself fourth in the latest MaxPreps.com rankings.

Despite a season in which it has lost two games by 30-plus points for the first time in program history, Capital sits at 4-2 overall and ranked eighth in the 5A standings.

While West Las Vegas occupies the top spot in the 3A rankings and SFIS sits third, the wild card is a 4-1 Las Vegas Robertson team that just played its fourth game over the weekend at the Bruce King Tournament in Moriarty.

Meanwhile, defending champion St. Michael's is languishing at 2-4 and 11th in 3A. The Horsemen have a 12-day break before another crucial point in the season — the Stu Clark Tournament. St. Michael's faces Belen in the opening round and could see Las Vegas Robertson in the next round.