ALBUQUERQUE — Something was amiss for Santa Fe Indian School in the second half of its Class AAA State Basketball Tournament semifinal against No. 2 Albuquerque Sandia Preparatory on Friday.

For one, the Braves' notoriously noisy fans, sitting in large numbers on the north end of The Pit, were deathly quiet.

Disquietingly quiet.

They didn't even have enough energy to scream their trademark exclamation "Braves" at the end of the National Anthem.

For another thing, the improbable shots that had been falling on the other end of the court in the first half — like the banked-in 3-pointer by guard Joseph Calabaza midway through the second — those shots just stopped dropping.

The third-seeded Braves (22-8) would hit just 9 of 33 shots in the second half and fell to the Sundevils 56-50, who advanced to their first ever AAA state championship today.

"There's ebb and flow in every ball game," said Santa Fe Indian School head coach Ernie Rodriguez. "In the first half Sandia Prep did a good job of keeping their composure. We were getting opportunities and taking advantage of them. I think a lot of that had to do with our movement, both of the basketball and ourselves."

Senior Jamaal Anderson paced the Braves with 12 points. Fellow seniors Stevan Rodriguez and Trevor Merhege added 11 and 9 points, respectively.

Santa Fe Indian School had trouble containing 6-foot-5 Sandia Prep forward Kody Salcido, who finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high
24 points and pulling down
11 rebounds.

Despite that, the shorter Braves had the same number of rebounds (16) at halftime as Sandia Prep. And though they kept pace with the Sundevils in the second half, their lack of offensive rebounds hurt them.

"In the second half I think we slowed down a little bit offensively," Rodriguez said. "We were putting too much on the open shot and hoping that would be the end-all, be-all and because of that we didn't rebound in the second half."

Despite the one-and-done possessions on offense, Santa Fe Indian School was still in the game to the end thanks to a defensive effort that caused 20 turnovers. But after tying the game at 35-all on a Stevan Rodriguez 3-pointer at 4:19 in the third, the Braves never got closer than three the rest of the way.

"I felt we got away from what we needed to do to control him," said Stevan Rodriguez of his teams' effort against Salcido. "We didn't do a good job getting in there and stopping him. We kind of shied away making that point of contact that is necessary."

Coach Rodriguez said he was happy with his team this season and particularly impressed with his seniors.

"We had a bunch of young men committing to each other, which is all you can ask for," he said. "This bunch of seniors committed to each other early on. Not only to win but for the betterment of each other."

"We accomplished a lot," Anderson said. "The best thing we accomplished was coming together."

Stevan Rodriguez agreed.

"It was just the love of basketball and love of each other," he said. "We all wanted each other to do our best. We all had the same goal."

Next season, Santa Fe Indian School moves into a new district that features the Sundevils (21-9) as well as St. Michael's, Albuquerque Hope Christian (both AAA semifinalists). But coach Rodriguez said, despite losing a lot of experience from his team, his team is looking forward to the challenge.

"In our situation we're constantly rebuilding," he said. "We have eight seniors but not a one of them played a full four years. Throughout the season we've had different lineups because of injury and other things. So we're constantly rebuilding, you could say. It's a constant situation for us."

Coach Rodriguez said he's looking forward to the challenge of the new District 5AAA.

"That's always been our aim, to compete with the best," he said. "We'll have all the opportunities we want. I think it's a good thing."