Karen Boehler
CCSR writer/editor
Warrior Benjamin Thomas (10) drives around Colt Nathan Moore (1 ).
(CCSR photo by Steve Notz)
What do you do when you play a non-district game in the middle of district between two very disparate teams?
You use it as a learning experience.
And that’s exactly what the NMMI (15-9, 3-3) and Gateway boys did Thursday.
While the Colts took a 67-41 victory, NMMI coach Pilar Carrasco said the score wasn’t what mattered.
“I was hoping that they could get something out of it and we definitely got something out of it,” he said.
“We worked on some things that we want to put in against Lovington and Portales and Ruidoso and for Dexter. Today, I told the guys, ‘I want to be a better team when we walk off the court after the game than we are when we walk on,’ and I really think we did.”
Gateway coach Troy Grant agreed his team learned from the experience.
“Most definitely,” he said. “We went into a different kind of offense tonight than we’ve usually run. And that’s because they are quick. We had some good buckets. We came out and started slow and our third quarter, which is sometimes our worst quarter, came back and haunted us again tonight, but the second and fourth quarter, they didn’t hurt us there.”
Colt Wade Thomas (3) goes up for the basket with Warrior Luke Grant (44), on his back.
(CCSR photo by Steve Notz)
“Slow” is an understatement for the opening stanza, as the Colts held the Warriors to two points, ending the quarter up 19-2.
But the two squad played even — 14-14 — in the second and Gateway actually closed the gap to nine in the third quarter before NMMI went on an 11-0 run to end the third up 53-31.
Both teams also used the game as a chance to give their bench some playing time.
The Colts were short several varsity/JV split timers so they could prepare for a JV tournament. So Carrasco gave others a chance to shine.
“We had some kids tonight who’ve contributed a lot to the team,” he said. “They’ve been out. They haven’t missed a practice and they got more minutes than they ever had. That’s one of the things, Xs and Os aside, you want to reward these kids, especially at a place like NMMI.”
While senior Nathan Moore led the scoring with 26 points, Thomas Wade tallied 16 and Giles Zollar nine and every Colt put at least one point on the board.
“And that’s exciting for them and that’s exciting for us,” Carrasco said. “It was kind of a payback for them to say, ‘Thank you for sticking with us.’ I was really proud of them for that.”
And while every Warrior didn’t score, they all got a chance to see some action, and some who normally don’t contribute did.
“Everybody’s got a little experience from this game tonight, which I was proud of,” Grant said. “Some kids who normally don’t get to play a lot (played)”.
Ben Thomas led Gateway with 16, including 10-of-11 from the charity stripe.
The only real complaint Carrasco could find was a few lapses on defense that he said gave the Warriors a few “easy baskets.”
“I don’t care about the score. I care about how we’re executing,” he said. “And a couple of times they got lax. We probably could have just driven all the time, but that wouldn’t have done us any good. We needed to work on our offense. We need to work on our defense, half court, and we got a good look. I really appreciate coach Grant for giving us this game and giving us this look, because definitely, it’s going to help us down the line.”
And after a sub-par district game vs. Valley Tuesday, Grant thinks the match will help his squad as well.
“They’re a good, solid team. What can I say? They’re AAA and they’re where they ought to be in order to compete at that level. Just hopefully we can take care of the rest of our district a lot better.”
The Warrior will get a chance Friday, when they travel to Lake Arthur for a rematch with the Panthers.
“What we’re going to do tomorrow is we’re going to go down there and we’re going to play hard basketball,” Grant said. “Because Lake Arthur is going to be looking for us. They’re not going to be easy.
We’ll mix some things up on them. If our guys can keep their composure, we’ll be OK.
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