At points Saturday night, it might've appeared to the throngs of St. Michael's fans packed into Perez-Shelley Gymnasium that Portales guard David Carrasco's No. 5 was actually an S — as in Superman.

Carrasco scored a game-high 24 points, including eight in the third to will his Rams into the Class AAA Boys State Basketball Championships.

But the fifth-seeded Horsemen were able to clamp down on the senior in the fourth quarter with a superb defensive effort to outlast Portales 46-43 and advance to Wednesday's quarterfinals at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho.

"We knew we might have to go to (box-and-one and chase) on him in pre-game," said St. Michael's junior Wesley Vaughan, who primarily defended Carrasco in the critical fourth quarter. "We thought he might hit some shots. If he got hot we knew we might have to switch up."

Carrasco single-handedly drew the Rams to within a point at 31-30 to end the third quarter. He led another Rams charge in the fourth when he stole the ball and dashed the length of the court to lay in the ball and cut the Horsemen's lead to 39-37 with 4:09 left.

After a timeout, St. Michael's clamped down, allowing no field goals and forcing five turnovers to seal the game.

Sophomore guard Antonio Garcia said head coach Ron Geyer had a simple message in the huddle after the steal and score.

"He said 'Take care of the ball,' " said Garcia, who scored a team-high 12 points for the Horsemen. "I particularly remember the huddle because the play before, I turned over the ball and they came back and got within two. I knew I had to come back and make a play. He told us 'Protect the ball and we'll win it.' "

Vaughan said the St. Michael's team dynamic showed itself on defense in the fourth.

"We really did pick up the intensity on the defensive end in the fourth quarter," he said. "That led to easy buckets and we were able to run some clock."

The Horsemen opened the game on an 8-3 run but then watched as their shots rimmed out consistently. The Rams took advantage, and finished the first period with a 10-0 run to take a 13-9 lead into the second quarter.

Portales (13-14) increased its lead to 22-12 with 2:38 left in the second quarter, but St. Michael's finished the second quarter on a 9-0 run, including a buzzer-beater trey by Patrick Trujillo from near midcourt to cut the Rams' lead to 22-21 at halftime.

"We just wanted to come right out again (after that)," said senior post Justin Smith. "We couldn't wait to get back out on the court."

Geyer said he expected a tough game from Portales, who he felt was seeded too low for its quality.

"We knew going in that we had an extremely tough draw," he said. "We're the fifth seed, but no way was Portales a 12-seed. It was a very physical game. Both teams had a lot of big plays."

St. Michael's (19-10) advances to play Lovington on Wednesday at 4:45 p.m. The fourth-seeded Wildcats defeated Newcomb 57-34 Saturday night.