BERNALILLO -- The stars, by all accounts, weren't the ones shining.

Yet somehow, some way, the stars still lined up for the Capital boys basketball team.

The Jaguars held Brandon Saiz in check, and managed even with standout player Christian Martinez having one of his most nondescript performances of the year, en route to a 60-52 win Friday night in Richard Joseph Kloeppel Gymnasium.

The Jaguars' never-before-used 3-2 zone limited Saiz to 22 hard-earned points, which in turn, helped them clinch the District 2AAAA regular-season title, their first in seven years.

"We got it a week early, but that's OK," said Mark Senteney, Capital head coach.

Despite the win, Martinez was glum in an otherwise jubilant Jaguar locker room. He sat by the lockers with his head down and wasn't in a chatty mood. He declined an interview request from The New Mexican.

And it was his costly lack of restraint that put the Jaguars momentarily in peril.

Martinez picked up a cheap foul with 1 minute,
38 seconds left. Frustrated with the call, he then picked up a technical -- his fifth foul -- giving the Spartans a crack of light in a game they should have never had a chance in, after being down by as much as 13 points with 3:21 to go.

Saiz strolled to the free-throw line, making two of three -- including the technical shot -- and then hit a jumper on the ensuing possession to pull the Spartans within 53-48 with 1:05 left.

"We need him at the end of the game," Senteney said of Martinez. "He's one of our better free-throw shooters. That's gonna hurt us later on. I told him that you're just gonna have to adjust to the way the officials call. We were lucky that we got away with it. We got away with it this time, but we can't let it happen anymore."

Luckily for Capital, Mikey Lopez and Paul Toya have broad shoulders.

The duo, which combined for 29 points, keyed a brilliant third quarter in which the Jaguars outscored Bernalillo 18-8.

In the closing minutes, it was Lopez and Toya teaming up to put the flame out on the Spartans' district wick.

After Saiz helped Bernalillo close to within five, Lopez responded by hitting Toya cutting to the basket for an easy lay-in, upping the ante to 55-48 with under a minute left.

Game. Set. Match.

Toya then hit a pair of free throws with fewer than 30 seconds for insurance.

"The game was on our shoulders," Lopez said. "I told Paul, 'Look, I can't carry us alone. We're a team. I need you to step it up.' "

More than anything, Spartans head coach Terry Darnell said, it was the big guy Lopez's ability to get out in transition that hurt the Spartans.

"I think it wasn't so much the defensive end as it was the run-outs that they got because we were shooting so terrible," Darnell said. "And that's smart basketball, if nobody's gonna get back."

Just as much, it was that Saiz couldn't get untracked. He finished with his requisite points, but was harassed every step of the way.

"We just wanted to make it harder on him," Toya said. "We didn't want him to go out there and have a big night. He still had a pretty good game, though."

Not good enough.

Contact Isaac Avilucea at 986-3032 or iavilucea@sfnewmexican.com.