A state tournament basketball game was the reason roughly 900 fans showed up to Francis L. Abeyta Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday night.

But it was a tragedy that brought them all together.

Deshauna Peshlakai, a 17-year-old senior on the Newcomb girls basketball team, and her older sister Del Lynn, 19, were killed in a car crash on Cerrillos Road on Friday night shortly after leaving a state tournament loss to the SFIS Lady Braves. Their parents, Darlene and David, were both still hospitalized Saturday night.

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At halftime of Saturday's Class AAA boys basketball state tournament opener between the host Braves of Santa Fe Indian School and the visiting Thoreau Hawks, a game that ended up in a lopsided 83-52 SFIS win, high school basketball rivalries took a back seat as the girls' older sister, Danell, and a family friend, Alonzo Begay, addressed the SFIS crowd.

"We are strangers to Santa Fe," Danell said, "and the school has provided a lot of support."

After Begay said a prayer in Navajo, a school official announced donations to help the family were being accepted in a basket located under the gym's south goal.

Without hesitation, fans by the hundreds from Thoreau and SFIS flooded the court and filled an estimate $2,500 in the basket.

So full was the gym's floor, players from both teams returning from their locker rooms to play the third quarter had to wait patiently for room to warm up.

"It's something we've tried to reinforce with our kids all season," said SFIS boys head coach Ernie Rodriguez. "Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow so work for one another and try to play like there is no tomorrow. It's something we preach, but what just happened was a real life lesson for them."

And the outpouring of support from the fans and the SFIS program — what was not announced at the game was that girls head coach Cindy Roybal spent much of Saturday at the hospital and had already secured hotel rooms for the Peshlakai family — was something that did not surprise Rodriguez.

"That's a lot of love," Rodriguez said. "That's something we've seen time and time again in our community, in our Santa Fe Indian School Community. Hopefully our school can be a source of support and inspiration in a time that isn't about basketball at all."

But there was still basketball to be played Saturday night.

After the fans returned to their seats and the players began the third quarter, there was no stopping the Braves, the tournament's No. 3 seed.

SFIS (21-7), which held a 29-18 lead after a sluggish first half, rattled off 54 second-half points, 34 of which came via point-blank layups in the paint. Many of those were set up by the 30 turnovers they forced in the game with a full-court press that No. 14 Thoreau (12-16) simply had no answer for.

All 12 Braves players to enter the game scored, including four in double figures. Senior post Jody Atencio led the charge with all of his team-high 14 points in the second half.

"It was just us doing what we've been working on in practice," Atencio said. "Move the ball around. Find the open man, whether it's inside or out, just find the open man."

There were plenty of them open Saturday night.

The Braves closed out the third quarter on a 16-0 scoring run to put them up 56-29 heading into the final period.

Thoreau sophomore guard Justin Johnson, who scored all of his game-high 20 points in the second half, was the only thing keeping the game from becoming a total laugher. Johnson, who was a step quicker than most of the Braves defending him, hit 8 of his 9 free throw attempts and scored four points in a 10-second span capped by a steal and layup with 6 minutes, 29 seconds left in the game to cut the lead to 25 points at 61-36.

It wouldn't get any closer.

The Braves will get a familiar foe in Wednesday's AAA round at Santa Ana Star Casino. SFIS will play No. 11 Las Vegas Robertson at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday. The Braves twice beat the Cardinals in the regular season.

"Getting everybody involved like we did in the second half, that team chemistry, that was what we try to be about," Stevan Rodriguez, a Braves senior guard who scored 12 points, said. "But for us, it all starts on that defensive end. When our press is working like it was (Saturday), we can be pretty good and get a lot of points in transition and off steals."

For Ernie Rodriguez, Stevan's father, the defense he saw his team play was even more satisfying than the offensive explosion in the second half.

"It was good to see the kids perform like they did," said Ernie Rodriguez. "I wouldn't say I was nervous, but having not played in a week, not being in the best of game shape and with the effects of the loss to St. Michael's (Feb. 27) in the District (2AAA) Championship — they really wanted that district championship — I wondered a little bit about how we'd play. I was pretty happy with what I saw."

And not just from his team.

After the game, Ernie Rodriguez took the microphone and thanked the SFIS fans for their support throughout the season, and for the generosity shown at halftime.

"Like I said, they are the best fans in the state," Ernie Rodriguez said. "They're a big part of our success this season and they showed an awful lot about what they're about here (Saturday night)."

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at grammerschoolblog.com.