Peter Dindinger – NMMI Sports Press
Every coach envisions a perfectly distributed scorebook.
The New Mexico Military Institute Colt basketball team had one of those majestic nights.
During the regular season finale Friday night at the Godfrey Athletic Center, NMMI grabbed 32 rebounds and had four players in double-digit scoring figures in route to a 69-40 victory over the Dexter Demons.
NMMI (13-7, 4-2) will most likely host Tucumcari on Thursday night in the District 4-3A semifinals. Time and site have yet to be determined.
“It was a good win for us,” NMMI head coach Connor Williamson said. “I’m really pleased with how the stat sheet looked, just the scoring spread we had is exactly what I’ve been dreaming about.
“We’ve been working on offense the last two days and it definitely paid off today.”
The Colts led 17-10 in the opening frame.
Dexter (4-22, 1-5) had 10 team fouls in the first half, which allowed NMMI to capitalize at the free throw line, downing 10 points from the charity stripe in the second quarter to increase the lead to 13 points.
Andres Bleizeffer had 11 points at the break while Daniel Xibille had eight and Clay Stroh chipped in with nine.
The Colt offense was just starting to catch fire.
Hector Soto got the magic hand and fired away four straight 3-pointers in the third quarter to tally 13 points in the frame.
NMMI went on to dominate Dexter in the third quarter scoring column, 20-7.
The Colts finished with six 3-pointers. Xibille led the way with 17 points, seven boards and two assists while Soto added with 16 points and three assists.
Stroh and Bleizeffer each had 11 points and eight rebounds apiece. Stroh also had four blocks.
Ricardo Mata helped distribute the scoring by dishing out eight assists and tallying seven points.
The Colts shot 15 for 20 from the free throw line. Xibille and Bleizeffer had a perfect night going a combined 9 for 9 at the line.
To round out the scoring, Bobby Laporte had seven points, five of which were made in the fourth quarter.
Dexter’s Jorge Carrasco had 16 points while Juan Fuentes had seven. The Demons grabbed 24 boards.
“Our main goal right now is to just win the district championship,” Xibille said. “We’ve got to improve our defense, our offense — just everything. Everyone was getting some points, it felt good.
“Everyone came in. We just had fun, played the game, we got the win.”
The way the season has gone it seems like all roads lead to a possible fourth meeting with Tularosa to decide the district crown.
NMMI is currently ranked No. 11 in Class 3A on MaxPreps, and capturing the district title could help the Colts get a home game in the first round of the state playoffs.
“They should feel good. Not to overlook who we get on Thursday, but assuming we go to Tulie, we’ve beat them twice already,” said Williamson. “It’s gonna be whoever plays better that night.
“Our guys should feel confident that we can get it done, especially if we bring the defense we had in the second half tonight. It was the best defense I’ve seen from the team all season.”