Mid-February Check In: Can Anybody Dethrone Volcano Vista?

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There's a saying dating back to medieval times that if you're going to kill the king, kill the king.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Because if you don't, watch out.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rio Rancho (21-3, 6-2) had a golden opportunity to knock off four-time defending Class 5A champion Volcano Vista on Tuesday night, and take over sole possession of first place in District 5A-1, arguably the state's toughest. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Rams led the Hawks, 59-58, with one second left. Volcano Vista inbounded the ball from under its own basket. The Hawks ran a play to free long-distance sharp-shooter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2743220' first='Finley' last='Fitak']</strong> for a 3-point attempt from the corner. Fitak's defender got caught up in the traffic, allowing Fitak to get a clean look at the basket.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>He caught the pass and in one motion rose up for the shot. The ball swished through the basket as time expired to give Volcano Vista the hard-fought win and sole possession of first place in the district.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After Thursday night's 53-41 win over Farmington, Volcano Vista (19-4, 7-1) leads District 5A-1 by one game over crosstown rivals Rio Rancho and Cleveland (20-4, 6-2), serving notice that the road to the Class 5A crown will likely go through the Hawks when the state tournament begins the first weekend in March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The District 5A-1 tournament in the final week of February will likely determine the No. 1 seed for the state tourney.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Five of the top six schools in the latest MaxPreps ranking are situated in the Albuquerque Metro Region. La Cueva (No. 5) and Sandia (No. 6) join the aforementioned three schools in the ranking.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Southern New Mexico has four schools in the Top 10: Las Cruces (No. 4), Carlsbad (7), Hobbs (9) and Centennial (10). Can any of those schools win the title? If they do, they would become just the second team from the southern region to lift the 5A blue trophy in the last decade. Las Cruces won the 5A title in 2020.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In Class 4A, last March's two state championship game participants are ranked No. 1 (Highland) and No. 2 (Artesia) in the latest&nbsp; MaxPreps poll. The Hornets are arguably the hottest team in the state and they carried a 12-game winning streak into Friday night's District 4A-5 matchup at Grants. Highland has appeared in three of the last four Class 4A state championship games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Artesia, of course, returned everybody from their 2025 state title team and the Bulldogs have won 13 of their last 15 games heading into Friday night's District 4A-4 game against Portales. The winner of that game will have solo possession of first place in the district.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hope Christian, Del Norte and Taos are also threats to win the 4A title in March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's almost time for March <a href="https://twitter.com/_NMAA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_NMAA</a> <a href="https://t.co/JdSSobKqvo">pic.twitter.com/JdSSobKqvo</a></p>&mdash; Sebastian Noel (@SebastianNoel47) <a href="https://twitter.com/SebastianNoel47/status/2021731553848803512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2026</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MaxPreps Basketball Rankings<br>Last updated 2/9/26<br>Boys<br>Class 5A<a href="https://t.co/3iDxrkAfzW">https://t.co/3iDxrkAfzW</a> Rancho<br>2.Cleveland<br>3.Volcano Vista<br>4.Las Cruces<a href="https://t.co/xy12RqFoJB">https://t.co/xy12RqFoJB</a> Cueva<br>6.Sandia<br>7.Carlsbad<br>8.Albuquerque<br>9.Hobbs<br>10.Centennial <a href="https://t.co/vTBioWBWpq">pic.twitter.com/vTBioWBWpq</a></p>&mdash; NMAA (@_NMAA) <a href="https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/2021243229048349129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2026</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GAMEDAY AT THE CASTLE 🏰🐶<br><br>🆚 #12 Organ Mountain<br>⏰ 7:00 PM MST<br>📍 Organ Mountain High School<br>🎟️ <a href="https://t.co/QCu9kOeUtf">https://t.co/QCu9kOeUtf</a><br>📺 <a href="https://t.co/cfUulXVSX6">https://t.co/cfUulXVSX6</a> <a href="https://t.co/ouPAfGPZX4">pic.twitter.com/ouPAfGPZX4</a></p>&mdash; Cruces Boys' Basketball (@CrucesBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrucesBB/status/2022349746464252254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2026</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/6tpD0fBi5a">pic.twitter.com/6tpD0fBi5a</a></p>&mdash; Centennial Hawks Boys Basketball (@HawkBoysBBall) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawkBoysBBall/status/2022336228738158745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2026</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->