On Saturday evening the No. 12 seeded New Mexico Military Institute fell 48-45 to the No. 5 seeded Bosque Bobcats in Albuquerque, NM. With the loss, the Colts end the year with a 16-13 overall record while Bosque improves to 21-7 and a spot in the quarterfinals.
H1
Opening the game on fire, the Colts shot their way to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Of the nine, Diego Martinez scored five quick points with a three and a reverse layup. His guard mate, Lorenzo Peral scored the other four with a pair of layups. With the 8-point lead, NMMI kept the pressure on as they conducted a quick 7-0 run as they grew their lead to 15 points.
In that run the Colts forced three turnovers while Xavier Johnson rattled off five quick points with the help of a shot from beyond the arc. After holding Bosque scoreless for nearly five minutes, the Bobcats were able to score a pair of layups to end the first quarter trailing 18-5.
Continuing the momentum, the Colts opened the quarter on a 9-5 run, which gave them a game-high 17-point lead with just over three minutes remaining in the half. Just like the first quarter, Johnson scored another three to help craft the run. However, the Bobcats were able to outscore NMMI 12-2 as the Colts lead 29-22 heading into halftime.
H2
After four consecutive turnovers to open the half, the Colts were outscored 10-6, with nine of Bosque’s points coming from deep. The Bobcats trailed by three to end the quarter. Mihail Parada and Torty Kalu-ulu and Peral all scored a close shot in the quarter for the Colts.
The Colts were able to protect their lead early on after Kalu-ulu converted the three-point play opportunity to give NMMI a 38-34 lead. Over the next three minutes, Bosque was able to tie the game on two separate occasions before taking a 42-40 lead – their first of the contest.
The home team was able to close out the game with the help of a three by Owen Custer, which gave Bosque their largest lead of the game with just under two minutes on the clock. Johnson was able to knock down a corner three to make it a 47-45 ball game but Bosque converted their free throws to close out the contest.
Head Coach Connor Williamson on the loss, “The beginning was great, everyone across the board, offense was flowing and everyone was getting good looks. Lots of floaters and we were hitting our threes and executing some fast breaks. Defensively we were really tight early, boxing out well they couldn’t get anything going.” Williamson said. “Then they started trapping in the half court, forced a bunch of turnovers and got it down to seven to end the half … that just continued more in the second half.”
Mihail Parada ended the game with a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double. Xavier Johnson led all Colts with 11 points as he went 3-for-3 from deep. Lorenzo Peral also scored in double-digits with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists.