<p>It’s easy to understand why offense gets all the attention. In today’s game offensive players make the highlights and get the awards. Championships however are still won on the defensive end. The state features several defensive standouts, in this article, we take a look at some of the returning steals leaders in the state. </p>
<p>[player_tooltip player_id="1076726" first="Alexavier" last="Carreon"] <em>6’1 PF Jai 2023 (#54PHNM 2023)</em> - Carreon is an undersized post that made his presence felt on the defensive side of the ball last year. He averaged over 3 steals per game and showed he can dominant games on the defensive side of the ball, evident by his six steals against Eunice. </p>
<p>[player_tooltip player_id="1076693" first="Joren" last="Mirabal"] <em>6’2 SG Magdalena 2022 (#9PHNM 2022)</em> - When Mirabal was on, he was on. Although he put up over 28 per game, his steals numbers may be even more impressive. The 6’2 guard had 5 games of 5 steals or more last season. </p>
<p>[player_tooltip player_id="1076692" first="Santiago" last="Rivas"] <em>5’7 PG Escalante 2022 (#64PHNM 2022)</em> - Rivas is also a track star, so his quickness is no surprise. The PG averaged 3.2 steals per game last year and was a monster on the ball. Rivas’s signature game was a 7 steal performance against Questa. </p>
<p><strong>Michael Cardonita</strong> <em>6’3 SG Melrose 2024</em> - Despite being a young player, Cardonita, made the most of his opportunity. The freshmen wasted no time making an impact on the defensive end, getting 8 steals in his first two games of the season. He continued his stellar defensive play throughout the year, putting up 9 games of 3 steals or more. </p>
<p><strong>Jose Donnadieu</strong> <em>5’11 PG New Mexico Military 2022</em> - Donnadieu was a solid defender, but he definitely had a favorite number. The PG had exactly 4 steals in 4 games last season. His season-high was 6 against Dexter, en route to averaging over thefts per game. </p>
<p><strong>Isaac Archuleta</strong> <em>5’9 PG Escalante 2022</em> - The multi-sport star for Escalante, was one of the more consistent thieves on the list Archuleta had at least two steals in every game last season en route to averaging just over 3 thefts per game. </p>
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