Video/Recap: Is This The Best Story In New Mexico Hoops?

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>SANTA FE </strong>– About a month after Santa Fe Indian School lost to eventual champion Robertson at The Pit in the semifinals of the Class 3A state tournament, Braves head coach Jason Abeyta and his brother Nathan Abeyta, an assistant AD at SFIS, were killed in a head-on collision near Abiquiu.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The close-knit SFIS community mourned the tragedy for months. But instead of deflating the players on the boys basketball team, it galvanized them. When the start of the 2025-26 season arrived in late November, the Braves were ready.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The victories followed.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Soon, SFIS was fashioning one of the best stories in New Mexico high school hoops.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Santa Fe Indian entered Saturday's non-district home contest against Hot Springs ranked No. 2 in the latest MaxPreps poll and No. 3 in the Coaches poll. The only team ahead of the Braves was crosstown rival St. Michael's, whom a scribe from the local newspaper recently described as a Class 3A team possessing 5A talent.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Saturday, the Braves took care of business against Hot Springs, jumping out to 12-1 lead two minutes into the game and cruising to a 68-29 victory at the Everett Chavez Pueblo Pavilion. SFIS improved to 18-3 overall while Hot Springs fell to 12-10.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The comfortable SFIS win sets up a massive District 3A-2 showdown Tuesday night between the Braves (5-1 in district) and St. Michael's (18-4, 6-0) on the Horsemen's home court.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Saturday, Santa Fe Indian displayed all the qualities that make them an outstanding team destined for another deep run in March's 3A state tournament. They have excellent long-range shooters, unselfishly share the basketball through superb pinpoint passing, play relentless defense and feature speed and skill in the transition game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2833709' first='Dontrey' last='Callado']</strong> scored the first seven points for SFIS as their early double digit lead forced a Hot Springs timeout just 2:01 into the contest. They built the lead to 17 points (24-7) before settling for a 24-10 advantage after the first quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The second quarter highlighted Santa Fe Indian's tenacious defense. The Braves held Hot Springs scoreless in the frame. SFIS scored 17 points, the final four by Callado on a pair of jumpers to make it 41-10 at halftime.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hot Springs showed life early in the third quarter, scoring the first five points to cut the huge deficit to 41-15. However, SFIS responded with a 5-0 run of its own on a 3-pointer by freshman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2893408' first='Christopher' last='Pena']</strong> and an offensive rebound putback by Callado.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Callado's triple gave SFIS a 49-17 lead midway through the third quarter and the gap rarely fell below 30 points the rest of the way. The final basket of the third quarter summed up the afternoon perfectly for the Braves. A millimeter perfect bounce pass between Hot Springs defenders from the left side of the court to the right side resulted in an easy layup for the Braves.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Santa Fe Indian led, 59-25, after the third quarter. A portion of the fourth quarter was played with a running clock.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 1: First Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/Kq2SD44GzxM?si=3nKElrGhveNca2mk","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <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/Kq2SD44GzxM?si=3nKElrGhveNca2mk </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 2: Second Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/Q9Iy0npei2M?si=WQptviA0zo6VFcFB","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <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/Q9Iy0npei2M?si=WQptviA0zo6VFcFB </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>District 3A-2 Standings</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":3479657,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-07-at-20-57-01-3A-District-2-District-Basketball-Standings.png"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-07-at-20-57-01-3A-District-2-District-Basketball-Standings.png?w=659" alt="" class="wp-image-3479657" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: MaxPreps</figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Saturday Scoreboard (Feb. 7)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Scoreboard: Sat. 2/7<br><br>Highland 53, Albuq. Academy 40<br>West Mesa 50, Santa Fe 49<br>Bosque 57, Menaul 50<br>Rio Grande 58, Manzano 47<br>Sandia Prep 64, Grants 55<br>Mesa Vista 79, McCurdy 37<br>Santa Fe Indian 68, Hot Springs 29<br>Texico 72, Tatum 22 <a href="https://t.co/Y6IWRzpx8l">pic.twitter.com/Y6IWRzpx8l</a></p>&mdash; Prep Hoops New Mexico (@PrepHoops_NM) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrepHoops_NM/status/2020324276352745589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2026</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->