[Photo Gallery] Despite missed free throw, Jaguars knock off Demons for District 2AAAA lead
By James Barron | The New MexicanPosted: 2/1/2012, 10:00 PM Mountain time
Christian Martinez is a stone-cold lock at the free-throw line.
That's why the best place for the 5-foot-10 Capital junior in the fourth quarter is 15 feet away from the basket with the game on the line.
That's why his head coach, Mark Senteney, hesitated to call a timeout with 5.1 seconds left Wednesday in a District 2AAAA skirmish with crosstown rival Santa Fe High and the district lead in the balance.
That's when ice-cold Martinez showed a crack. His miss allowed the Demons a chance to force overtime, but when Nick Martinez hit iron on his 25-footer, the Jaguars escaped -- again -- with a 60-57 win in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium.
The win puts Capital (17-4 overall) firmly in the driver's seat in 2AAAA at 4-0 and with a two-game lead over the Demons (6-15, 2-2) and Bernalillo in the standings.
The Jaguars did it with an old, familiar theme: Just make one more play than the opponent. Capital has won six in a row, and five of them have been by margins of four points or less.
"We don't have the ability to blow teams out, so all of our games are tough," Senteney said. "We don't win by a whole lot, but one thing this team knows how to do is win."
And when the game rides on your best clutch player, you put your faith in him. Senteney did when Christian Martinez was fouled after Nick Martinez's driving layup made it 59-57. He was tempted to call a timeout to get his defense set, but ...
"I didn't want to freeze Christian,"
Senteney said.
Christian Martinez was 6-for-7 in the fourth at that point, and his calm mimicked his performance against Bernalillo, where he hit 16 of 17 in the final 3 minutes of a 78-74 win on Jan. 24.
Martinez declined to be interviewed after the game, but teammate John Serrano said Christian Martinez is always at his best in these situations.
"Coach says to put the ball in his hands," said Serrano, who had a team-high 14 points. "We get it to him and he pulls through for us all the time."
But Martinez missed the second of two freebies, which allowed the Demons to get the ball to Nick Martinez for the game-tying shot.
However, the mental clock in his brain was ticking off the seconds.
"I just flicked my wrist because I thought time was out," Nick Martinez said. "It didn't feel too good because I thought there was less time."
Santa Fe High seemed to be battling the clock in the second half as it tried to rally. Capital used a 15-5 run to end the first half that gave it a 32-25 lead at the break. It was 40-33, Capital, on Serrano's transition layup with 3:54 left in the third quarter when the Demons started to chip away.
Thanks to their 1-3-1 halfcourt trap, they harried the Jaguars into mistakes that fed their transition game. A 6-0 run that started on DeVante Pellegrin's buzzer-beating putback to end the third gave Santa Fe High a 45-44 lead.
It could have been 46-44, but Wyatt Honstein missed the second of two free throws.
Capital responded with a 7-2 run that was capped by a Paul Toya 3 with 4:05 left to make it 51-47.
The tug-of-war for momentum continued as Capital hit just 3 of 6 free throws -- none by Christian Martinez. When Honstein scored on a baseline runner and drew the foul, the Demons were within 56-55 with :35.3 left.
But Honstein missed the free throw, as the Demons were 4-for-11 from the line.
"They converted enough at the line, we didn't," said David Rodriguez, Santa Fe High head coach. "Had he made it, we had a timeout coming and we change our defense. But now you're down one and it changes a lot about how you approach it and you have to chase and put the pressure on."
When the pressure's on, so is Christian Martinez.
Usually.
Contact James Barron at 986-3045 or jbarron@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at thereadbarron.com.
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