Video and Recap: Sandia Secures District Title

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>SANTA FE</strong> -- Perhaps more than any other team in the state, Sandia at their best is a well-oiled, high octane, 3-point loving, run and gun machine.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If the extremely athletic Matadors were a car, they would definitely be a Lamborghini capable of going from 0 to 100 in 2.8 seconds. If they were a band, they would be Judas Priest cranked to 11.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Showcasing all the entertaining attributes that lifted them to 23 regular season victories, Sandia shifted into overdrive Friday night in a 80-65 victory over Santa Fe that earned the Matadors the District 5A-2 title, and possibly the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Class 5A state tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Especially in a wild first half highlighted by everything that makes Sandia a wonderfully terrific and fun basketball team. There were 3-point rainbows that hit nothing but the bottom of the net, tenacious tomahawk dunks, fast breaks, reverse layups, crisp cross-court passes, and players thoroughly enjoying themselves and embracing the moment.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Breaking the game open in the second quarter behind their star players like <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1687823' first='Thomas' last='Adams']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2292960' first='Zaire' last='Ndyabagye']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2714580' first='Gad' last='Harris']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2714567' first='Isaiah' last='Brown']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1276352' first='Mason' last='Howell']</strong>, Sandia raced out to a 48-27 halftime lead, built the advantage to 30 points late in the third quarter and cruised home from there before a nice crowd at Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Santa Fe managed to cut the final margin to 15 points in garbage time, but the game wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicates.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sandia's offensive strategy is simple – push the ball up the floor as quickly as possible, find the open man and bomb away. Everybody on the roster seemingly has the green light to shoot at any time. If it's a 3, even better.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The final scoring tally demonstrated Sandia's impressive offensive balance. Adams led with 21 points followed by Brown with 17, Ndyabagye 14 and [player_tooltip player_id='2714580' first='Gad' last='Harris'] 12. Sandia's sharpshooting starting five accounted for 70 of their 80 points. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sandia connected on 52 percent (32-62) of their shots against the Demons, draining 11 3-pointers, four by Brown and three by Adams. They had 14 offensive rebounds, four by Howell. Defensively, the Matadors had 21 steals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sandia finished the regular season with a 23-3 overall record (two of their three losses are to Volcano Vista), 9-1 in district play. La Cueva (17-9, 8-2) beat Manzano Friday night to claim second place in the district ahead of Santa Fe (18-8, 7-3). Eldorado was fourth. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO: First Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/fdGa420HdWI?si=oO2s5BnOBotcFtE2","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/fdGa420HdWI?si=oO2s5BnOBotcFtE2 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO: Second Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/ZzuAa1lvZWA?si=1zUdR3MQvLmNb7K3","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/ZzuAa1lvZWA?si=1zUdR3MQvLmNb7K3 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO: Third Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/PkA8S33zMV4?si=vBO-v8nEDVU-GKLF","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/PkA8S33zMV4?si=vBO-v8nEDVU-GKLF </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Best of Social Media</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sandia celebrates their district title. <a href="https://t.co/KdXc8401LD">pic.twitter.com/KdXc8401LD</a></p>&mdash; Prep Hoops New Mexico (@PrepHoops_NM) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrepHoops_NM/status/1893145108041859246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FINAL: Sandia 80, Santa Fe 65.<br><br>Matadors win the district title. Definitely look the part of the #2 seed for the upcoming 5A state tournament. Competing with Hobbs for that. Volcano Vista, of course, will be the #1 seed. <a href="https://t.co/HRFop7uphK">pic.twitter.com/HRFop7uphK</a></p>&mdash; Prep Hoops New Mexico (@PrepHoops_NM) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrepHoops_NM/status/1893144150595248433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->