NMMI Sports Press
The New Mexico Military Institute Colt basketball team took down the Class 4A Ruidoso Warriors at home on Tuesday, improving their overall record to 8-2 and extending their winning streak to seven straight games.
NMMI took control of the game early in the first period of play, outscoring the Warriors 28 to 19 in the opening stanza, and it could have been worse, but Ruidoso's Gabe Devara hit a buzzer-beating three to close out the quarter.
The Institute led by as much as twelve early in the second period, but a combination foul trouble and turnovers, along with a resurgent Ruidoso effort on defense, allowed the Warriors to cut that margin to four points before halftime, 39-35.
NMMI bounced back and won the third, 17-10, despite the Colts' season-high scorer Daniel Xibille picking up his fourth foul within the first few minutes of the start of the period.
The Colts proved they could still play even without Xibille in the lineup. They held a double-digit lead throughout the first six minutes of the final quarter and led by as much as 15 with two minutes remaining.
Ruidoso had a nice run at the end of the game to make it a five-point finish, but it was against the Institute's bench.
Junior point guard Ricardo Mata had a huge game for the Colts, earning the game's high-scoring title with 21 points and narrowly missing the double-double with eight rebounds.
Xibille, with extremely limited playing time, still managed 14 points, as did last weekend's Dexter Invitational MVP, freshman shooting guard Hector Soto.
The Institute struggled at times to contain the Warrior's big man, Grant Oberheu, who finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds for Ruidoso, but with the large leads, the NMMI defense was stretched out, trying to focus on preventing shots from behind the arc, rather than collapsing on entries into the paint.
"We were trying to cut down the passing lanes," explained NMMI senior forward Clay Stroh about the Colt defensive strategy. "There were times where we lost track of that, but as a whole, I think we really played well as a team and our defense was exactly where it needed to be, we just need to lock-up down low a little bit more."
"This was just another win to add to our winning streak," finished Stroh. "We just want to keep that going for as long as we possibly can."
The Colts, who compete in Class 3A, will put that streak on the line, on the road against another 4A opponent, on Thursday, Jan. 23, when they travel to Portales to take on the Rams [6-11].