Video/Recap: The Last Unbeaten Team In New Mexico

SANTA FE – About 25 miles east of downtown Albuquerque, on the eastern edge of the Sandia Mountain Wilderness region, in the small town of Sandia Park, is where you'll find the last unbeaten boys basketball team in New Mexico.   The East Mountain Timberwolves made the hour-long trip north on Route 14 (Turquoise Trail) to Santa Fe on Saturday to face the Santa Fe Prep Blue Griffins in their final non-district tuneup before the start of District 3A-5 play next week.     Relying on outstanding 3-point shooting, relentless offensive rebounding, suffocating backcourt defensive pressure and pinpoint interior passing, East Mountain built an early double-digit lead and were never seriously threatened thereafter in a 58-34 road victory over Santa Fe Prep, a win that improved the Timberwolves to a perfect 16-0.   “I heard rumblings of that (East Mountain being the last unbeaten team in New Mexico), but I don't pay too much attention to that stuff,” Timberwolves head coach Brad Hofmann told Prep Hoops New Mexico following Saturday's win.   “We try to keep our focus on getting better and improving and being process oriented. We don't get too caught up in the results. That's important. We're happy to have the record we have, but there's still plenty of basketball left to be played. We have a lot of work to do.”          East Mountain was sparked by the dynamic backcourt combination of point guard [player_tooltip player_id='2216957' first='Vicente' last='Ortiz'] and shooting guard [player_tooltip player_id='2834029' first='Liam' last='Pierce']. The pair combined for 33 points and over a half-dozen 3-pointers. Ortiz led with a team-high 20 points while Pierce had 13. Most of their points came in the first half, which ended with East Mountain holding a comfortable 39-16 lead.   “Both Vicente and Liam shoot the ball well,” Hofmann said. “Vicente is a nice point guard who runs the show for us. He does a great job. He's our lead guard. Obviously, we try to get him and Liam good shots. We run plenty of stuff for them. I was happy with the way we moved the ball. Usually, the ball went to the right spot. We always try to take what the defense gives us. A big part of our offense is reading the defense, seeing what's available and making the right pass. We always try to move the ball. Things usually open up when we do that.”   The Timberwolves scored the first 10 points of the game before Santa Fe Prep found its offensive footing. The Blue Griffins battled back to trail, 22-12, at the end of the first quarter.   Then East Mountain's uncompromising defensive pressure kicked in. The Timberwolves scored the first 13 points of the second quarter to take a 35-12 lead. Santa Fe Prep didn't score in the second quarter until a pair of free throws dropped  with 1:58 left.   “We had a good start to the game,” Hofmann said. “Our kids came out with the right mindset. Sometimes with these Saturday afternoon games, teams can get out of rhythm. But we weren't. We had the right focus and intensity.”      East Mountain steadily built the lead to 29 points (51-22) by the end of the third quarter before both coaches emptied their benches in the fourth quarter. To their credit, Santa Fe Prep refused to go away and continued to battle to the final buzzer, slicing the deficit to 19 points at one point.   “I thought Santa Fe Prep played very well,” Hofmann said. “They made some shots and moved the ball well. They battled on the boards. They did a nice job. They've played some people tough. We knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk. Santa Fe Prep has some physical players. It was going to be a battle.”     East Mountain begins district play Wednesday at Bosque. Hofmann expects District 3A-5, which also includes Sandia Prep, Cottonwood Classical and Cuba, to be a month-long battle.   “Our district will be tough,” Hofmann said. “Bosque and Sandia Prep are very good. Both are playing very good basketball right now. Cottonwood Classical and Cuba are tough too. We have our work cut out for us.”   VIDEO 1: First Quarter   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/MkcoSq_4RtY?si=AxRl9GyEHUj2VH3r </div></figure>   VIDEO 2: Second Quarter   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/nkq40x3B-3g?si=kXsaS1Pce4K_l51e </div></figure>   VIDEO 3: Third Quarter   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/xRVxUOEGT0o?si=zW23_JKsxWuYruGp </div></figure>

SANTA FE – About 25 miles east of downtown Albuquerque, on the eastern edge of the Sandia Mountain Wilderness region, in the small town of Sandia Park, is where you'll find the last unbeaten boys basketball team in New Mexico.