By Glen Rosales
Special to the SUN

It was a heckuva long trip – 400 miles to be exact – that Dulce faced before even stepping on the court Saturday in the opening round of the boys Class 2A state basketball tournament.

By bus, that translates to nearly eight hours.

And it certainly didn’t help the No. 12-seeded Hawks any against No. 5 Mesilla Valley, which came away with the 61-42 win.

“We felt pretty good coming into the game, but it was the first trip for some of these boys to see state,” Dulce coach Enrique Talamante said. “Nerves were pretty high there for a bit.”

Long road trips, however, were just a minor inconvenience for the Hawks, who have had a tumultuous time of it as Talamante is the team’s third head coach this season.

“All the adversity these boys have seen, it’s definitely not been an easy season for them,” he said. “I was super proud. They came out and fought. They didn’t let the negativity around them hold them down any. They came out and they battled.”

They battled, but the Hawks had trouble getting shots to drop, and for a team that relies on its offense prowess, that makes for a long evening.

“We definitely struggled a little bit offensively,” Talamante said. “It was not reflective of what our boys are capable of at all.”

Only Eric Tsosie was able to break double figures with 11 points, nine of those coming in the third quarter. Adolf Vigil had eight points and Jaiden Yazzie added seven.

And perhaps most telling about the game is that Dulce had just one 3-pointer, that came from Phillipe Lucero in the fourth quarter.

“We scouted them and they pretty much ran what they did in the season,” Talamante said. “They did a great job of slowing our shooters. Mesilla Valley is a very tough team, well coached. We didn’t get our shots to fall. But that’s the game we love, basketball. When shots are falling, we can’t lose. When shots aren’t falling, we can’t win.”

It didn’t help matters that the Hawks committed too many turnovers, he said, and that the second half got to be a grind.

“That was part of the experience we were missing,” Talamante said of ball possession. “We struggled there a little bit in that second half. We just ran out of gas in that second half.”

The good news for Dulce is that for this group, all are scheduled to return next year, and Talamante is hoping he remains on board for next season, as well.

“It’s a stepping stone,” he said of the state tournament experience. “We got to see it, got to feel it. If everything goes right for me, I’ll be able step up and take over full-time. I’ve built a pretty good rapport with these boys.”

That was the post-game message to the players, as well.

“We’ll all use this as a stepping stone,” Talamante said. “This is not where or when we wanted to end our season. So we’ll hit the gym and weight room and then this summer we’ll get ready for next year with a little more experience. They’re a talented bunch of kids.”

In other 2A games, No. 7 Escalante was upset by 10th-seeded Menaul, 58-55.

The game was a nail-biter throughout, with the scored tied at 27-all at halftime and the visiting Panthers taking a 43-40 lead into the final quarter.

But Menaul (22-8) quickly built the lead to 50-40 two minutes into the fourth.

Consecutive Escalante 3-pointers cut the lead to four, and two late 3s dropped it to a 3-point deficit, but the Lobos (21-8) could get no closer.

Richard Glover led Escalante with 17 points, nine of those coming in the third quarter. Mateo Torrez added 15 points, 12 of those coming in the first half, and Charlie Ferrell had 12 points. Only two other players scored for the Lobos.

Escalante coach Isaac Royston did not respond to repeated interview requests.