Most students wait until the final minutes to chant, "Start the bus! Start the bus!"

But with 30 points separating the Elks of Pojoaque Valley High School and the Dons of West Las Vegas, neither team would have minded a quick end to the District 2AAA basketball game Friday night in Gillie Lopez Gymnasium.

The Elks, leading 43-13 at intermission, settled for a 69-46 triumph to remain in a second-place tie in the 2AAA standings with the Horsemen of St. Michael's.

"You just want to make sure you stay sharp and don't get sloppy," Joey Trujillo, Pojoaque head coach, said of playing the final two quarters with an insurmountable lead. "You have to keep playing hard. When you stop, that's when injuries happen."

The Elks left Las Vegas with their health in tact. They also left with a 16-8 record, including 5-3 in district.

The watershed occurred in the first half, if not the first quarter. The Elks led 24-8 at the end of the opening 8 minutes.

"We came out in that first half and shot the ball well," Trujillo said. "We played with a lot of confidence."

Chris Ortiz finished with 13 points for the Elks. Luke Salazar followed with 10.

Jordan Lopez had 13 points for the Dons.

The Elks' win came two days after dropping a 63-61 heartbreaker to Santa Fe Indian School, which leads the district at 8-0.

"I was real worried about this game," Trujillo said. "I didn't know how they were going to respond. But I was very impressed with their maturity."

Capital 74, Taos 60

The synergistic Jaguars stretched their win streak to three and remained in contention for a runner-up finish in the District 2AAAA regular season.

"We're sharing the ball," Mark Senteney, Capital head coach, said in the aftermath of the home victory in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium. "What better time than February and March, right?"

Capital (11-10) and Los Alamos (16-7) are both 4-2 in district, two games behind Española Valley. The teams meet in the season finale in eight days.

Reece Goodman poured in 30 points, Jonathon Rodriguez followed with 16 and Isaiah Bustamante chipped in 10 for the Jaguars.

Keith Martin scored 14 points and Max Suazo and Joshua Garcia each had 11 for the Tigers (8-16, 0-7).

The Jaguars held leads of 17-15, 33-27 and 46-39 at the end of the first three quarters, respectively.

"We played pretty good defense, we got out in transition and for the most part made the most of our layups," Senteney said. "But we were only 15-for-30 from the free-throw line. The games are going to get tougher, so we're going to have to improve that."

Los Alamos 64, Bernalillo 42

The Hilltoppers were stuck in the mud until they unleashed the press in the second half of a District 2AAAA game in Bernalillo.

After trotting out to a pedestrian 26-15 halftime lead, Los Alamos (16-7, 4-2 2AAAA) exploded for 21 points in the third quarter to fashion a 47-23 margin

"It was just kind of a slow first half, then we opened it up with the press and we got going," Hilltoppers head coach Alan Kirk said. "We only hit one (3-pointer), but we made 28 twos and a lot of those were off the press."

Alex Kirk and Austin Wolstein shared top scoring honors with 18 points apiece, and Wolstein added 11 rebounds to the 6-foot-11 center's eight.

Zach Parks added 13 points and Garrett Owens scored 10.

Wisconsin School for the Deaf 52, New Mexico School for the Deaf 31

Wisconsin parlayed a 13-2 scoring run in the opening quarter into a berth into the championship game of the Great Plains Schools for the Deaf Tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

NMSD committed 23 turnovers and manage just 12 rebounds.

Michael Quinonez scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Roadrunner, while Joey Huerta finished with nine points and three assists.

NMSD (11-10) plays for third place today against either Iowa or Kansas.