2025-26 Season Opens In Earnest Tonight

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For some teams, the 2025-26 high school basketball season got underway this past weekend as a handful of games were played Saturday, including an intriguing encounter between Sandia and Hobbs. The Eagles won, 68-57, to improve to 2-0 on the season. They beat Brownfield (TX), 81-44, on Friday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For most teams, though, the 2025-26 season gets underway this week. Nearly two dozen games are scheduled for Tuesday night. Here are five of the top matchups:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Volcano Vista at Albuquerque High (7 p.m.)</strong>: This game features two of the top players in the Albuquerque Metro Region going head-to-head: D1 prospect <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2111977' first='David' last='Lunn']</strong> of Volcano Vista and 6-foot-5 wing standout <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2827330' first='Ethan' last='Oetzel']</strong>. Volcano Vista is seeking its fifth straight Class 5A championship. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Cibola at Sandia (7 p.m.)</strong>: Cibola had a bounce back season in 2024-25 and now looks to take the next step in Class 5A with talented junior Elijah Maertinez leading the way. Sandia dropped its season opener to Hobbs but <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2714561' first='George' last='Smith']</strong> (20 points) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2714567' first='Isaiah' last='Brown']</strong> (19 points) performed well. The Matadors are the 5A favorite in the opinion of some analysts, and this game provides them a good early test.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>La Cueva at West Mesa (7 p.m.)</strong>: La Cueva exceeded expectations in 2024-25 after losing most of its top players from the previous season. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2694526' first='Hunter' last='Butler']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2085694' first='Drew' last='Bramlett']</strong> are two of the top players in the Albuquerque Metro Region. West Mesa looks to improve on last season's 16-13 record behind dynamic sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2432180' first='Daylen' last='Holt']</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pojoaque Valley at Albuquerque Academy (7 p.m.)</strong>: The big story here is D1 prospect <strong>Zac Borrego</strong>, whose father James was recently named interim head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA, returns to Albuquerque Academy after spending the 2024-25 season in Louisiana. The Chargers are extremely talented and appear capable of dethroning Artesia as 4A champions. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1717250' first='Hunter' last='Aime']</strong> is one of the top big men in the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Espanola Valley at Santa Fe Indian (7 p.m.)</strong>: Espanola Valley opened the season with a convincing 70-26 victory over Aztec. The Sundevils went 24-7 last season and reached the semifinals of the Class 4A playoffs. Santa Fe Indian got to the Pit as well. Two of the talented Callado brothers (Taivian and Dontrey) are back for the Barves.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Two New Mexico teams are traveling to El Paso (TX): Carlsbad at El Dorado and Organ Mountain at Franklin. Meanwhile, Las Cruces hosts unbeaten El Paso (TX) Montwood.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>More Tuesday Games</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rio Grande at Highland</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Silver at Alamogordo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Valencia at Gallup</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Taos at Valley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Manzano at Bernalillo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Clovis at Atrisco Heritage</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Farmington at Aztec</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gadsden at Chaparral</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hot Springs at Magdalena</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cliff at Cobre</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bosque at Estancia</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mora at Raton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Roy at Clayton</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GAME DAY! FARMINGTON SCORPIONS🦂VS AZTEC TIGERS🐅<br><br>C TEAM - 4:00PM <br>JV - 5:30PM <br>VARSITY - 7:00PM <br><br>Come out and support your Scorps! 2025-2026 Season is Finally Here! 🦂🏀<br><br>GO SCORPS!!! 🦂🏀🦂🏀🦂🏀 <a href="https://t.co/c3hz8z49Ci">pic.twitter.com/c3hz8z49Ci</a></p>&mdash; fhsscorpionsbbb (@fhsscorpionsbbb) <a href="https://twitter.com/fhsscorpionsbbb/status/1993377317109088381?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GAMEDAYS ARE SO BACK BABY ‼️🐶<br><br>🆚 Montwood (TX)<br>⏰ 7 P.M. MT<br>📍 Las Cruces High School<br>🎟️ <a href="https://t.co/RMuglXyzzP">https://t.co/RMuglXyzzP</a> <a href="https://t.co/puZGh3ScLl">pic.twitter.com/puZGh3ScLl</a></p>&mdash; Cruces Boys' Basketball (@CrucesBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrucesBB/status/1993343985100980391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->