Senior shooting guard Xavier Johnson hit a fourth-period buzzer-beating three to force a 44-44 tie, but the Colts came up short in overtime, falling to visiting Tularosa 51-49 for their first district loss of the season.
Q1
The Wildcats came out hot, breaking out to ta 7-0 lead, with NMMI's first points not coming until the 4:58 mark when senior point guard Lorenzo Peral drove into the paint and hit a short jump shot. That sparked a 6-0 Colt run, with an easy lay-in by sophomore forward Mihail Parada off an assist from senior forward Cole Seidenberger, then another two from Peral.
Xavier Johnson, the Colts' top scorer on the night with 14, hit two free throws and the score was 9-8 Tularosa at the end of the period.
Q2
An NMMI 7-0 run began the second stanza. Johnson opened up with a three; Seidenberger pulled down an offensive board - one of his five in the game - and got the put-back; and Peral hit another floater in the paint to make it 15-9 in favor of the Colts, still with 6:39 left in the second.
NMMI managed just three points in the period, another trey by Johnson with 2:13 left on the clock.
The Wildcats closed the gap and made it a two-point game, 18-16, at the half.
Q3
The third period saw the score knotted up six times, including a 31-31 tie at the end. Seidenberger had two more in the quarter, Parada pourred in three shots and one free throw for seven points, Peral hit another two, and senior forward Sawyer Hull got his first bucket of the night.
Q4
Another 7-point run by the Colts started the final fourth period: a Seidenger two followed by a three-pointer by senior guard Carper Lackey, then a inside two by senior post Torty Kalu-ulu off a nifty dish from Johnson.
NMMI held that lead until the 2:24 mark, when the Wildcats sunk a a pair from the charity stripe to make it a 41-40 game in their favor.
NMMI took the lead on the short jumper by senior guard Diego Martinez, but three more Tulie free throws made it 44-41 with 11.4 second left im regulation.
That's when Johnson hit the buzzer-beater trey to tie it up.
OT1
NMMI held a brief two-point lead after a pair of Parada free throws, then the lead swapped back and forth until a 49-all tie with just over a minute remaining. The Wildcats missed a shot with 30 seconds left, but NMMI turned the ball over with 5 ticks left and Tularosa made their own buzzer-beater to win it 51-49.
“X's [Xavier Johnson's] three was epic," said NMMI head coach Connor Williamson after the tough loss. "We battled hard and it was a close game; we just came up a few plays too short tonight. There’s a lot to build off this game, they’re No. 6 in 3A and we went to the last possession, so it’s a good sign for us moving forward. I like the spot we’re in."
With the loss, NMMI moves to 12-10 overall and 1-1 in district play. Next up will be a trip to Dexter to take on the Demons in another round of district play - tipoff slated for 6:30 pm MST on Tuesday, Feb. 11.