Hobbs holds off Rio Rancho rally

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE

If you would have told Rio Rancho High boys basketball coach Brian Smith before Friday’s game with perennial power Hobbs that his team would have the ball with 11 seconds left, down only a point, there’s no doubt he would have taken it.

Unfortunately for the Rams, they also had to take the last 11 seconds.

RRHS rallied from nine points down with 1:50 left in the game, but couldn’t quite close the deal and dropped a 61-60 home decision to the Eagles.

Hobbs scored only two points down the stretch, both free throws by junior guard Shelby Reeves. The second, with 11 seconds to go, proved to be the game winner.

After a timeout by Hobbs, RRHS moved the ball to half-court and called time to design a final play. Josh Quintana drove to the basket down the left side of the lane and put up a left-handed runner that missed badly, and the loose ball was batted to Josh Perro in the deep left corner. His desperation 3-point attempt was a good six feet long and also appeared to be launched after the buzzer.

It was a disappointing ending for the Rams, who led just once in the game. Hobbs jumped to 4-0 and 10-2 but went scorless in the last 3:11 of the period, and the Rams cut the margin to 10-7 on Perro’s 3-pointer two seconds before the buzzer.

Back-to-back baskets by Devon Conley gave the Rams a 15-14 lead, which lasted for all of 11 seconds.  Hobbs tied the game on a free throw by powerful center Juhreese Thompson, who finished with game highs in points (16) and rebounds (21).

Away from the play, RRHS’s Seth Baldwin appeared to step on an opponent’s foot and went crashing to the court with a sprained ankle. His status for Saturday’s game with Clovis is uncertain.

Hobbs then ripped off seven more points in a row to take a 22-15 lead, but the Rams responded with an 8-1 run of their own to forge a 23-23 tie. The game was still tied at 26 when Londus Franklin and Thomposn scored consecutive baskets in the final 15 seconds to put the Eagles up by four at intermission.

Hobbs edged further ahead in the third quarter, building their biggest lead at eight points on a Thompson basket with two seconds left in the period.

The Rams cut the margin to one point twice, the latter on a Lucas Archuleta drive with 3:15 left. But the Eagles ripped off eight straight points, starting with a dunk by Thompson, to take a seemingly insurmountable 59-50 lead when Nick Gilmore made two free throws with 1:50 remaining.

Jorel Johnson scored for RRHS to break a break a draught of almost two minutes for the Rams, then Perro scored after Hobbs’ Josh Sanders was called for traveling. Following a Hobbs miss, Johnson drilled a three points to narrow the gap to two points.

After a Rio Rancho timeout, the Rams fouled Gilmore, and amazingly the coach’s stepson missed both free throws. But the loose ball went out of bounds off a Rio Rancho player, and the Rams had to foul again. Reeves made the first of two foul shots to give Hobbs a 60-57 lead, but the Rams worked the ball to Perro, who drilled a three-pointer to tie the game 60-60.

But Perro followed up by fouling Reeves, who made the back end of a two-shot foul, setting up the final play.

Will be updated with quotes.