RIO RANCHO — Pojoaque Valley High School guard Luke Salazar held the ball, patiently waiting for counter from Albuquerque Sandia Prep's defense.

Seconds drained from the clock with no action to make them relevant.

Groans of impatience were the only sounds from the crowd.

The Elks' plan revealed itself early.

For them to beat much taller Sandia Prep, it would require a lightning bolt offense. Moments of nothing. Then a sudden burst and a layup.

This strategy, often employed by small teams, is equal parts patience, timing and aggression. When those rare opportunities come, they can't be wasted with hesitation or inefficiency.

It worked for a quarter, but the Elks' stopped attacking and Sandia Prep pulled away for a 52-33 win in a quarterfinal of the Class AAA State Basketball Tournament on Wednesday in the Santa Ana Star Center.

Pojoaque finishes the season 20-11.

"The only thing I could have expressed to my guys a little bit better was that when they did come out and trap us, that's when we needed to attack," Pojoaque Valley head coach Joey Trujillo said. "And we didn't attack as aggressively as we could have."

Trujillo's counterpart, Sandia prep head coach Willie Owens, knew from experience that the tightness of the game would come down to Pojoaque Valley's stubbornness.

The teams played Jan. 16 in Jacona and No. 2-seed Sandia Prep rolled 54-25.

Pojoaque Valley, the eventual No. 7 seed, mustered only eight field goals. Sandia Prep blocked nearly twice that many Elks' shots (14).

Said Owens: "We knew it was about there mental capacity to say, 'Are we going to really take it at these guys?' And at first you saw it. Once we got a little lead they kind of panicked a little bit."

The Elks took a 6-2 lead after a stalled first quarter. They started losing possessions and Sandia Prep made it close. Pojoaque Valley led 10-9, then seemed to freeze. The Sundevils unspooled nine straight points. The game wasn't close again.

"You've got to stick with it, you've got to keep attacking," said Pojoaque Valley's Brian Montoya, who scored a game-high 15 points. "Like coach said, we found what worked. We pulled them out. We were getting the layups we wanted. There for a while, when we made our turnovers, we stopped being aggressive. They got easy transition layups."

Montoya acknowledged playing that deliberate style increases the pressure on every possession.

In the end it might have boiled down to experience. Pojoaque Valley hadn't utilized that slow-down tactic much this season — the Elks' competition usually doesn't have such a pronounced height advantage.

Sandia Prep (20-9), meanwhile, has played some of the best metro area teams in Class AAAAA. Owens said that competition prepares his group defensively because those bigger schools execute so well in half-court offense.

Kody Salcido, the Sundevils 6-foot-5 forward, led his team with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jake Tenorio also scored 14 for Sandia Prep.

"We just had one bad quarter," Trujillo said.