Mario Herrera waited five days to wipe that image out of his mind.

As the buzzer sounded Saturday night in the championship of the Capital City Invitational boys basketball tournament at Santa Fe High School, Herrera watched helplessly as a Jacob Baldonado 3-pointer hit nothing but net, giving Albuquerque High a 54-53 win over the host Demons.

"He was my man," Herrera said of his defensive breakdown. "I've wanted to try and do something to make up for that ever since."

Herrera wasted little time doing so Thursday, scoring 11 of his team-high 19 points in the first quarter to lead the Demons to a quick start and an easy 80-62 win over Bernalillo in the opening round of the Al Armendariz Classic being played at Capital High School.

Herrera also had a pair of steals, an assists and drained 3-pointers from both corners of the court in the Demons' 26-13 first-quarter onslaught.

Santa Fe High advances to tonight's semifinal against Pueblo (Colo.) Central at 6 in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium. Bernalillo plays Anthony Gadsden at 2 p.m.

The Demons' quick start was a welcome sign for a team that had to erase second-half deficits of 15 and 16 points in last week's tournament.

"We know we've been coming out flat in the first quarter all year," Herrera said. "(Senior point guard) Mike Dean has been getting on us a lot about how we start and we were pretty determined to come out ready to play from the jump for a change."

Herrera's early heroics, combined with 16 points from fellow senior Issac Jeantette and 14 from junior Josh Lucero, were enough to overcome the monster night from Bernalillo senior post Ivan Luna.

The 6-foot-4, 226-pound Luna, who doubles as the school's football star in the fall, scored a game-high 30 points, including a jaw-dropping third quarter in which he scored all 17 of his team's points.

"He's just so physical, after we got into foul trouble, it was hard to stop him without a lot of help," Santa Fe High head coach Lenny Roybal said of Luna.

Luna, playing in just his second game of the season, hit 8 of his 11 free throw attempts, including five in the third quarter.

Santa Fe High's 6-6 center Kurtis Thomas picked up his fourth foul with 5 minutes, 54 seconds left in the third quarter and later fouled out with very little court time in the second half.

Santa Fe High's pressure defense, primarily an effective half-court trap, turned into easy fast break offense and enabled the Demons to score in bunches. They had scoring runs in the game of 10-2, 9-2, 9-0 and used a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to drive the final nail in Bernalillo, extending a nine-point lead to a 66-45 advantage.

After the first quarter struggles, Bernalillo played the Demons pretty even in the next three quarters. It wasn't any consolation to head coach Terry Darnell.

"Well, we're 0-7 now, so I'm not real happy about anything," Darnell said.

Herrera, meanwhile, said the Demons are looking at the Al Armendariz tournament as a way to make amends for their losing the Capital City Invitational on their own court last week.

"It's still a Santa Fe tournament," Herrera said. "We win this one and it will do a lot to help us get over letting the Capital City (Invitational) get away from us."

IN OTHER GAMES

Pueblo (Colo.) West 60, Piedra Vista 59

Piedra Vista used a 29-point fourth quarter to nearly pull off the opening-round shocker at Capital High.

Corey Blackwater led a balanced Piedra Vista offense with 10 points.

Seven Panthers scored between five and 10 points.

Ian Imamura (14) and Austin Payne (10) led the scoring for Pueblo West, which plays Capital at 8 tonight. Piedra Vista plays West Las Vegas at 3:30 p.m.

Pueblo (Colo.) Central 48, Anthony Gadsden 46

Donte Lucas scored a game-high 20 points to help Pueblo Central overcome 15 missed free throws and advance to tonight's semifinal against Santa Fe High.

Central teammate Steve Starcer added 13 points.

For Gadsden, Mario Medrano scored 14 and Luis Cisneros added 10.

Central hit 17 of 32 free throws (53 percent). Gadsden was worse, hitting just 3 of 9 free throws (33 percent).

Gadsden plays Bernalillo today at 2 p.m.

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at grammerschoolblog.com.