No. 1 Steers survive Longhorns' rally

RIO RANCHO – Despite being down by 20 points, the fifth-seeded Logan boys basketball team mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter and gave a big scare to No. 1 Magdalena during a 58-54 Longhorns loss in the Class 1A semifinals.

The Steers (30-1), which made nine 3-point shots during the contest Thursday at the Rio Rancho Events Center, surged to a 48-28 lead late in the third period and still commanded a 53-36 advantage with 4 1/2 minutes remaining.

The Longhorns switched to a full-court press that rattled the Steers into turnovers. Logan went on a 16-3 scoring run and pulled to within 56-54 with 1:10 left, making the Longhorns fans erupt with joy.

"These guys, especially these seniors, they didn't want to go out like that," Logan coach Kyle Griffiths said of his team's big deficit. "And so they turned up the intensity. We made a couple shots and kind of clawed our way back there at the end."

Joseph Zamora, who led the Steers with 18 points, admitted he and his teammates lost their composure.

"I think we panicked real bad, and we just needed to calm down and run our press break like we know how to run our press break," he said.

Magdalena coach Jory Mirabal gave credit to Logan for the comeback.

"You have that many seniors on a team with that kind of experience and that kind of character, those guys have lots of fight in them," he said. "So if you thought that was going to end up being a 20-point game, everybody in the gym is nuts, because I knew better.

"Did I did I expect some of those things like the (missed) free throws and some of the turnovers? Not necessarily on our end. But when you come up here to Albuquerque, there's lots of stuff that happens."

Mason Wallin scored seven of his team-high 13 points during Logan's rally. Brock Burns added two 3-pointers during the surge.

"I was just shooting it, just trying to get trying to get our team back in it. Luckily, they fell," Burns said.

That was as close as the Longhorns got. The Steers made one of two free throws with 42 seconds left.

Magdalena's defenders then closely guarded the 3-point line to prevent a tying shot and repelled a pair of two-point attempts by Logan before rebounding.

Magdelena made one of two free throws with 4.3 seconds left for a 58-54 lead. Burns tried a 3-point shot in the final seconds, but it was off the mark. The Steers survived.

"I just told them in the locker room that was probably one of the most incredible efforts of a comeback that I've seen. And dang near got it done," Griffiths said.

The Longhorns started the game slowly, trailing 8-1 early. They rallied to tie it late in the quarter.

"I think we started out a little nervous, and we were a little sluggish starting out," Griffiths said. "We came off a tough physical battle (against Melrose) last night. I think it took us a little bit to get going."

Magdelena made a 13-6 run in the second period to take a 30-19 lead at one point.

Logan rallied to within 33-26 at halftime.

After intermission, the Longhorns went 5 1/2 minutes without scoring, enabling the Steers to tally 13 unanswered points for a 20-point lead.

Logan's leading scorer this season, Hayden Bruhn, also fouled out early in the final period. He finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Griffiths said he was proud of his team finishing 25-6, despite it competing "in the toughest district in the state."

"It's a gauntlet. And we made it to the state semifinals, which we hadn't been in quite a while," he said. "I'm just proud of these guys and the effort they give every day and the work that they put in. It's a testament to their ability and how hard they work and how hard they want to be here."

Logan will have many returning starters next season, but they will lose senior guards Kaeden Stoner and Burns.

"Every season special in some ways. But this one was fun," Burns said. "I had a lot of a lot of guys that could play with me. And it was fun to have the teammates that I had."

Logan 50, Melrose 43

The Longhorns employed a little-used zone defense to frustrate their district-rival Buffaloes during a 50-43 quarterfinals victory Wednesday at Bernalillo High School.

The Longhorns started fast, taking a 6-0 lead early and commanding a 17-8 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Logan never trailed and twice surged to double-digit leads.

Stoner led Logan with 15 points, and Diego Sanchez added 11. Bruhn and Wallin combined for 25 rebounds against the fourth-seeded Buffs, who finished 24-5.

"It was probably the best defensive game we played all year," Griffiths said. "Offensively we didn't score it as well as we have at times. But defensively we really stepped up, limited them to one shot and rebounded well.

"We mainly went to a zone, which we haven't run all year against them. So I think that caught them off guard a little bit ... just something they hadn't seen and weren't prepared for."

Burns dashed Melrose's hopes for a comeback by going 4-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute.