ALBUQUERQUE — Leo Paul Pacheco knew the game eventually would come to him.

It did.

Ryan Bustos, though, didn't have time to wait.

Bustos made the defensive stop of the game, stripping the ball at half court inside the final 20 seconds, and the North withstood two putback attempts prior to the final buzzer to defeat the South 97-96 on Thursday night in the Class A-AA All-Star Basketball Classic at Valley High School.

"I didn't do anything throughout the game," said Bustos, a McCurdy School graduate. "I just got the ball. It's good."

Good?

The North overcame a 20-point, first-half deficit, with Pacheco draining a couple clutch jumpers down the stretch.

That qualifies as more than good.

"It was Northern New Mexico basketball at its best," said Chris Chakeres, North head coach. "A lot of these kids left the state tournament earlier than they wanted. This was their chance at redemption."

It took a 20-minute first half, and 12:44 after intermission, for the North to catch and pass the South.

Tim Chee of Navajo Pine drained two free throws, Pedro Valdez of Coronado scored underneath and Cimarron's Richard Chavez scored off a putback, which untied a 77-77 knot and put the North ahead 83-78.

The South, which took a 39-19 advantage on Cody Correa's 3-pointer at the 8:21 mark of the first half, quickly closed to 87-85.

That's when the ball found Mora's Pacheco.

Pacheco sandwiched a 3-pointer from the top of the key and a 10-footer outside the lane around a Valdez drive for 94-88 at the 3:00 mark.

"I knew it would come to me," Pacheco said. "I was ready for the big shot. It's something I've been practicing for my entire career."

No lead was safe, and the North's six-point gap was trimmed to one, 97-96, and the South had the ball with 22.8 to play.

Bustos prevented the South from a shot at the lead with his steal that preceded a foul to Jordan Easley, just 9.1 from the final buzzer. But Easley, of Evangel Christian, missed both free throws for the North.

Carson Carrillo, of Tularosa, launched a 20-footer for the South.

His shot wasn't true. Neither were the two other putbacks from each side of the rim.

"I had faith in my team that we could come back," Pacheco said.

So, too, did Chakeres, the Santa Fe Preparatory head coach.

"At practice, we talked about it, that we might go down early," Chakeres said. "But we felt our advantage was our legs and our depth."

That wasn't all.

"They showed a ton of heart," Chakeres said.

Pacheco shared that sentiment.

"Heart. Defense. Pride," Pacheco said.

Pacheco finished with 14 points, second on the scoring ladder behind Chee's 17. Valdez finished with 12, as did Albert Roybal, of Peñasco, and Jared Herrera, of Questa.

Ethan Shelley, of Cliff, and Seth Baily, of Texico, scored 18 points apiece for the South. Nolen Snyder, of Reserve, added 16 and Carrillo finished with 10.


Lobos past (Darington Hobson) and Lobos present (head coach Steve Alford) were watching Lobos future (Alex Kirk), the 7-foot Los Alamos graduate who signed a national letter-of-intent with The University of New Mexico.

But what Lobos Nations forgot is that Valley High School is Michael Maya's house.

Maya did not disappoint, either, adding one final memory in the Home of the Vikings.

Maya drained four straight 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes before beating the buzzer with a fifth 3-ball as the North rolled to an easy as its reads final victory in the Class AAAA-AAAAA All-Star Classic.

Maya, a 6-foot senior heading to Eastern New Mexico University, finished with a game-high 23 points. Kirk, meanwhile, added 10 points, but topped the "You Got Swatted!" cheers with each and every block.

Lucas Archuleta of Rio Rancho chipped in 18 points, Kyle Lantz of Albuquerque Manzano finished with 13 and Dylan Fritsch of Albuquerque La Cueva added 11.

Jordan Lee of Hobbs paced the South with 18 points and Roswell High's A.J. Peralta scored 16.

The North led 45-33 at halftime.