Whistle blows.

Foul is called.

Christian Martinez is sent to the line.

Money.

Again and again, money.

The Capital junior attempted 17 free throws in Tuesday night's 78-74 victory over visiting Bernalillo in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium -- all of them in the final 3 minutes, 39 seconds of the fourth quarter -- and made 16.

His first try was a miss. The last 16 were true.

"No way," said teammate Bryan Vigil afterward.

"That's amazing," added Vigil's twin brother, Ryan.

Martinez's streak included a pair of freebies just seconds after he was assessed a technical foul for shoving a Bernalillo player after getting hacked on an inbound play.

"He lost his head there for a second, but you have to like the way he kept his concentration when he stepped to the line," said Mark Senteney, Jaguars head coach. "He's our point guard. He's trying to make things happen and trying to protect the lead."

Another pair came after the Spartans trimmed a nine-point margin to just four in the final 30 seconds.

His consistency helped Capital gain sole possession of first place in the District 2AAAA race.

At 15-4 overall and 2-0 in district, the Jaguars are a game ahead of Bernalillo (13-7, 1-1) and Santa Fe High, and a game and half up on both Española Valley and Los Alamos.

Capital has also won four straight since a stunning upset loss to Albuquerque Del Norte two weeks ago.

"I like where we're at right now; I love where we're at," Senteney said. "We've had two wins against the big dogs in our district. We have a right to be happy."

Especially Martinez. He scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter. Seventeen of those points came from the line as Capital finished 27-for-36 from the stripe compared to Bernalillo's 7-for-19.

The Spartans turned the game into a track meet in the second half after hitting the break trailing 29-26.

Guards Brandon Saiz and Tristan Arnett began slicing the Capital defense with outside shooting and slashing drives to the basket.

The quickened pace went into overdrive in the fourth quarter as Capital outscored Bernalillo 34-29 in the final eight minutes. The Jaguars put 23 points on the scoreboard in the final four minutes.

"We like games like that," Martinez said. "It's fast-paced. It's fun."

Martinez said he's had streaks in practice where he's hit free throw after free throw.

"Yeah, but never in a game," he said. "Not like this. You just have to be confident that you're going to make those shots when you have to."

Ryan Vigil had the hot hand in the first half for Capital. The older of the Vigil twins by two full minutes, he had four 3-pointers before halftime and finished with 19 points. His younger brother, Bryan, went 6-for-9 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and had 15 points and four rebounds.

Arnett had a team-high 21 points for Bernalillo. Saiz had 20 before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

In recalling an overtime win his Jaguars had over the Spartans in the Stu Clark Invitational, Senteney said Saiz is a scoring machine that must be dealt with.

"[Tuesday night] he had a quiet 20 points," Senteney said. "In our first game he had a very loud 28. I thought we did a very good job on him [Tuesday] and, look, he still had 20."

Trey Darnell added 15 for Bernalillo, which led 45-44 at the end of three quarters when Saiz keyed a 9-2 run by scoring seven points in less than a minute.

The Jaguars went in front for good when Bryan Vigil opened the fourth quarter with -- what else? -- three straight free throws to make it 47-45 with 7:46 left. The Spartans never got closer the rest of the way.

"Where we are right now, is in a good spot," Martinez said. "We're playing good basketball right now and guys are doing their job. If we shoot the way we know we can, we'll be OK."

In other words, let the money man do the talking.