Bears knock off defending champ RRHS

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

ALBUQUERQUE – La Cueva used a 25-9 second quarter to vault ahead of Rio Rancho and never looked back, eliminating the defending state champions 87-77 in a Class 5A quarterfinal game Monday morning at University Arena.

The Rams got out to a 19-9 lead after the opening period, but La Cueva opened the second period with a 9-0 run to tie the game. It was still even at 26-26 when the Bears went on another run, a 9-2 spurt to close out the half with a seven-point lead.

Rio Rancho got within six points early in the third quarter on a Chris Newsome follow-up dunk with 6:45 left in the period, but never got any closer. The Bears scored seven of the next nine points to go up 11 points and built the margin to as much as 16 points before the Rams made a late run in an attempt to get back into the game.

Rio Rancho pulled within eight points on a Josh Walker basket with 2:53 to go in the game, but leading scorer Marcus Williams fouled out nine seconds later. It was only eight seconds after that when referee Louis Sauceda grew tired of the voice of Rams head coach Brian Smith and whistled him for a technical foul on top of two other free throws on awarded on a foul against the Rams.

Darren Palmer made all four charity shots to push the margin to 10 and put the game out of reach. The Rams never got closer than seven points again.

The Rams had no answer for the inside game of Palmer (24 points), Dan Koller (17) and Brett Koller (12). To make matters worse for Rio Rancho, diminutive guard Tim Pino was on fire from outside, hitting five of seven three pointers to finish with 22 points. It was back-to-back treys by Pino, the son of former Del Norte coach Gene Pino, hit back-to-back treys to give La Cueva the lead for good, the latter at the 3:05 mark making the score 29-26.

Palmer scored five points down the stretch, both on inside baskets, to help the Bears add to their lead.

The Rams, meanwhile, had little success offensively besides Williams (26 points) and Newsome (21). The rest of the Rams combined for only 30 points on 11-of-43 shooting.

STORY WILL BE UPDATED WITH QUOTES.