A combined 46 points by Sam Haywood and Kendall Johnson helped Volcano Vista beat Santa Fe High 56-42 in a nondistrict boys basketball game Saturday night in Albuquerque.

Haywood finished with a game-high 24 points as the Hawks won their third straight game.

The Demons (6-14) fell behind 11-1 in the first quarter but rallied to tie the game at 25-all early in the second half.

"Then we shot three 3s right in a row and we shot ourselves right out of it," said Santa Fe head coach David Rodriguez.

The Demons played without power forward DeVante Pellegrin and guard Jairo Gutierrez. Pellegrin's badly injured left knee was too sore for him to take the court while Gutierrez sat out after suffering a bruised knee in Friday's win over Bernalillo.

Three players finished in double figures for Santa Fe. Nick Martinez had 11 points. Tres Chaires and Moses Montoya each had 10.

"We battled hard," Rodriguez said, whose team next faces Capital in a critical District 2AAAA contest on Wednesday.

ST. MICHAEL'S 60, TAOS 50

In Taos, the visiting Horsemen (17-3) ran their winning streak to nine games with a nondistrict win against the Tigers (13-6).

Matt Barela had a game-high 23 points for St. Michael's. Antonio Garcia added 16 as the Horsemen pulled away late by converting 12 of 14 attempts from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

Max Suazo led Taos with 20 points. Brandon Suazo had 13. The Tigers trailed 24-22 at halftime and were outscored 22-16 in the fourth quarter.

Their 50 points were the most scored against St. Michael's since Robertson had 51 back on Jan. 4.

MORA 53, MESA VISTA 39

In Ojo Caliente, not even the flu bug could prevent the Rangers (18-2) from what will eventually prove to be a critical nondistrict road win.

With several players suffering from illness -- including head coach James Branch -- Mora finished 13-for-13 from the free throw line and got double-figure scoring from three players.

Sophomore Cody Najar led all scorers with 18 points for the Rangers. Lorenzo Chavez had 12 and Tim Romero 10.

"With the flu and three games, I'd say it was a tough week for us," Branch said. "I think we're all beat up. I'm so proud of my guys, though, for hanging in there. We got three [wins] with all that was going on."

Lucas Gallegos had 12 to lead Mesa Vista (8-9). Matthew Richardson had nine.

Mora led 15-11 after one quarter and 25-18 at the half, then slowly pulled away in the second half to earn its

DESERT ACADEMY 46, MOUNTAINAIR 41

The Wildcats rallied from a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to get a District 2A win against the host Mustangs.

Mack Snyder had 14 points and
10 rebounds to lead Desert Academy's comeback. Spencer Humphries added 10 points and Alden Kokesh 8.

Down 24-13 at halftime, the Wildcats (3-11, 2-5) used its defensive pressure to get stops and force turnovers. From there, Snyder and Humphries began to take over by getting clean shots from close range.

"The last three days, it's been all about overcoming adversity for this team," said Wildcats head coach Jonathan Salazar, referring to a broken wrist suffered by 6-foot-4 center Josh Bowman in practice on Friday. "Coming back was just a perfect way to prove this team overcome a lot of things."

WAGON MOUND 78, DES MOINES 47

In Des Moines, the visiting Trojans got 38 points from power forward Chris Cruz in a nondistrict win against the Demons.

Gabriel Cruz added 12 and Corey Muniz 10 for Wagon Mound (13-4). Austin Vincent had a team-high 19 for Des Moines.

GIRLS

MORA 82, MESA VISTA 47

In Ojo Caliente, Chantel Rivera poured in 31 points to lead the Rangerettes (19-1) to a nondistrict win over the host Lady Trojans (12-7).

Mora led by 10 after the first quarter, then used a commanding 21-4 run in the second period to blow the game wide open.

"It was a real good game in the first quarter; back and forth and they were matching us basket for basket," said Mora head coach Mark Cassidy.

Andrea Romero added 15 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Rangerettes. Destiny Pacheco had 10 points.

Brandy Valdez led Mesa Vista with 18 points. The Lady Trojans were without the services of double-double machine Julia Martinez, who was injured Friday against McCurdy School.